Archbishop Diarmuid Martin ‘seriously concerned’ that people are ‘underestimating’ the coronavirus situation in Dublin

Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has said he is “seriously concerned” that people are “underestimating the seriousness of the current situation” regarding the increase in coronavirus cases in Dublin.

The cleric said that the spread of Covid-19 “has reached serious levels” and added that there is a “real risk that the infection will radically increase in the community.”

He attributed this to, “in many cases”, meetings in homes and communities.

He called on people to cut back on contacts, which he called “as important in the current situation as the need for masks, social distancing and hand washing.”

Archbishop Martin also criticized reports citing a Vatican document allegedly urging a speedy return to normal worship, calling it a “very serious distortion” of the truth.

He also said he was “concerned that parishes are taking initiatives to ‘do first communions and confirmations'” adding that “there is no urgent need to celebrate these sacraments just because they fit into the school calendar.”

Archbishop Martin’s full statement tonight reads: “I am seriously concerned that many people are underestimating the seriousness of the current situation in County Dublin and indeed now in other counties.

“The spread of the virus has reached serious levels and constitutes a real risk of a radical increase in infection within the community. In many cases, the increase in numbers is due to gatherings within households and communities.

That is why public health authorities are emphasizing the urgent need to reduce the number of contacts that each of us has in this period.

“Reducing contacts requires a specific effort on the part of each of us to deliberately change the number of people we would normally come in contact with.

“This is just as important in the current situation as the need for masks, social distancing and hand washing.

“The need to reduce contacts and the size of meetings is also at the root of the regulations that ask us to limit public worship and close churches.

“It is true that due to the extraordinary effort by parishes to adapt Church buildings and reduce attendance, thank God, there has been no indication that the virus has spread in worshiping communities.

However, the current situation has changed and the measures introduced, as sad as they may be, are adequate at this time.

“I have seen reports citing a Vatican document urging a speedy return to normal worship.

“Some are using that as an indication that the official line of the Holy See is to object to the restrictions.

“This is a very serious distortion of what that document says.

“The document, as I quoted yesterday, strongly supports the application of restrictive measures and ‘painful decisions to the point of suspending the participation of the faithful in the celebration of the Eucharist for a long period’, when the need is great.

“I understand the disappointment of the families who were ready for the celebration of First Communion and Confirmation and find them postponed.

“Unfortunately, they cannot take place during the current period. Places of worship must remain closed, except for private prayer, as well as limited attendance at funerals and weddings.

“I am also concerned that parishes take initiatives to ‘make first communions and confirmations.’

“I appreciate the pressure that families and schools can exert on parishes.

“We have to remember that First Communions and Confirmations are sacramental acts and should be celebrated in a proper liturgical context and catechetical preparation.

“The idea that sacramental acts must be performed quickly and can be performed outside of the normal liturgical situation is false.

“There is no urgent need to celebrate these sacraments just because they fit into the school calendar. In many dioceses, First Communion celebrations have not yet begun.

“Some efforts, often well-intentioned, run the risk of reducing the administration of sacramental acts almost to the level of a supermarket that one can walk into and ‘do the sacrament.’ This would reduce the Eucharist to a commodity.

“First Communion and Confirmation must be celebrated through personal participation in a liturgical act.

“In fact, I have been hearing a lot of rave reviews about the small and intimately prayerful celebrations that have taken place in most parishes and I am very grateful to the parishes that have organized this.

“They show that taking your time carefully produces better results than undue haste.”