Covid-19 and religious worship

Last week therewas a news item reporting that Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa had said that as soon as possible the religiousplaces of worshipought to be opened s

Last week there was a news item reporting that Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa had said that as soon as possible the religious places of worship ought to be opened so that the worshippers of different religions could attend to their religious activities. A statement of this sort is very welcome, and thatoo, coming from the Prime Minister of a country where citizens belonging to various religions are known to be very religious. At a time when a pandemic such as the life-threatening Covid-19 has begun to gradually but slowly disappear from the island, thanks mainly to the indisputable leadership of our President, this is a very sensible step which one hopes would come into effect soon. However, it is extremely important that the religious leaders of diverse religions of the island in sist that their respective devotees take all the necessary precautions when they come for such worship because is already well-known gatherings of human beings are the most fertile grounds for this particular virus. Thereis no point in worshipping the divine ifsuchacts of worshiplead to the death and destruction of the worshippers. After all, God(no matterhow He is perceived by the diverse religions) is supposed to be life-giving and not death-giving!

Even as I pen down these random thoughts here in Rome for the first time in nearly10 weeks we had the Sunday mass today (24th May). Asiswidely known, Italy was one of the worst-hit countries by thisdeadly virus, with nearly 2,40,000 affected by it and close to 35,000 killed by it. With the Italiangovernment’sdecision to open up the country stage by stage, thingsseem to be workingwell, but in the long runsuchoptimismdependsfully on the responsibility – bothindividual and collective – of the citizens. In otherwords, the citizensneed to have a healthycivicsense in order to avert a possiblesecondwave of the deadly virus. When the governmentheredecided to launchits first stage in unlocking the so-called “lock-down” itallowedrestaurants, super-markets, public transport, beach resorts, gyms,…etc. to be opened under strictrestrictions, butsurprisinglyitdidnotgrantpermission for the places of public worshipto be opened. Beingpredominantlya Catholic country, the ItalianBishopswere up in armsdemanding from the government an explanation for such a iscriminatorystepwhichapparentlyignoredreligiousworshipwhilepermittingmanyothergatherings. However, after a fewrounds of discussionsbetween the government and the ItalianBishops, whenthe second stage of the relaxing of the lock-downwasannounced, the Churcheswerealsoallowed to conducttheir public services of worship from 18th May, but under verystrictconditionsaimedat public sanity.

For Catholics, the celebration of the Eucharist or Holy Mass, especially the Sunday Mass, iscentral to theirreligious living. During Mass, the reception of the HolyCommunionisconsidered by themassomethingverysacred and nourishing for their spiritual lives. Yet, in the agreementreachedbetween the Italiangovernment and the Bishops for the opening of Churches for public worship, healthmattersappear to havetakenprecedence, and rightly so.Accordingly, eachchurchis to take in only a certainnumber of worshippers so thatsafedistancing from eachothercould be respected, and all of them (including the priestswho celebrate mass, except the principalcelebrant) are to wearface-masks. In addition, thosewhoapproach the altar to receiveHolyCommunion are to come in single file one by one (keeping a safedistancebetweeneach of them), and receiveonly in the hand with reverence. Eventhosewhohadbeenused to receivingHolyCommunion on the tongue are nowobliged to receive in the hand.This last measureismeantmainly to prevent saliva passing from onerecipient to another (throught the distributingpriest’shands/fingers), an ideal way to propogate the Corona virus.Moreover, the priestwhodistributesHolyCommunionissupposed to alwayswearhandgloves, as an extra-precautionarymeasure. Allthesestepsmaysurely soundbizzarebutanyrationalpersonwouldacceptthatsuchhealth-consciounessisnecessarily part of trueworship, in the sensealltheseprecautions are taken for the sake of savinghuman lives, for enhancingcommon good, in a sanitarysense. Afterall, Jesuspresent in the HolyCommunionis a life-givingGodthan a death-dealingGodwhodoesnotexpectstrictadherence to the usualritualisticexpressions of reverencerendered to Him under ordinarycircumstances. The Bishops, the priests and the laypeoplehere in Italyhavebeenveryfaithful in understanding the special emergencysituaiton, and so, arefollowingthoserulesmeticulously. 

AlthoughSri Lanka neverhad to go through the terribleagoniesbetween life and deathas the inhabitantshere in Italyhad to during the last couple of months, onewouldexpectwhenever the SriLankangovernmentpermits public religiousceremonies (hopefully in the verynear future), devoteesbelonging to all the religionstoo, wouldrespectfullyfollowwhateverguidelinesimposed by the government for the sake of common good, in order to save human lives. The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) hasgone on record sayingthatatleast for some yearswemayhave to learn to live with the Covid-19 virus asithasnow come to stay with humansall over the world. Till a reliable vaccine againstthisdeath-dealing virus isdiscovered, the world mayhave to adjust and adapt to existtogether with the virus. In doing so, thingsmaynot be the sameagain, even with regard to religiouspractices (no matterhowendearing and reverentialtheymayhadbeen to us in the past). Butthen, thisis the priceallhumanshave to payiftheywish to survivethemselves and letotherssurvive.Afterallwe are dealing with amatter of life and death!

Rev. Fr. VimalTirimanna, CSsR

Rome

o that the worshippersof differen treligions could attend to their religious activities. A statement of this sortisvery welcome, and thattoo, coming from the Prime Minister of a country where citizens belonging to various religions are known to be very religious. At a time when a pandemic such as the life-threatening Covid-19 has begun to gradually but slowly disappear from the island, thanks mainly to the indisputable leadership of our President, this is a very sensible step which one hopes would come into effect soon. However, it is extremely important that the religious leaders of diverse religions of the island in sist that their respectivedevotees take all the necessaryprecautionswhentheycome for suchworshipbecasueasisalreadywell-knowngatherings of human beings are the most fertile grounds for thisparticular virus. Thereis no point in worshipping the divine ifsuchacts of worshiplead to the death and destruction of the worshippers. Afterall, God(no matterhow He isperceived by the diverse religions)issupposed to be life-giving and notdeath-giving!

Evenas I pen down these random thoughtshere in Rome for the first time in nearly10 weekswehad the Sunday mass today (24th May). Asiswidelyknown, Italywasone of the worst-hit countries by thisdeadly virus, with nearly 2,40,000 affected by it and close to 35,000 killed by it. With the Italiangovernment’sdecision to open up the country stage by stage, thingsseem to be workingwell, but in the long runsuchoptimismdependsfully on the responsibility – bothindividual and collective – of the citizens. In otherwords, the citizensneed to have a healthycivicsense in order to avert a possiblesecondwave of the deadly virus. When the governmentheredecided to launchits first stage in unlocking the so-called “lock-down” itallowedrestaurants, super-markets, public transport, beach resorts, gyms,…etc. to be opened under strictrestrictions, butsurprisinglyitdidnotgrantpermission for the places of public worshipto be opened. Beingpredominantlya Catholic country, the ItalianBishopswere up in armsdemanding from the government an explanation for such a discriminatorystepwhichapparentlyignoredreligiousworshipwhilepermittingmanyothergatherings. However, after a fewrounds of discussionsbetween the government and the ItalianBishops, whenthe second stage of the relaxing of the lock-downwasannounced, the Churcheswerealsoallowed to conducttheir public services of worship from 18th May, but under verystrictconditionsaimedat public sanity.

For Catholics, the celebration of the Eucharist or Holy Mass, especially the Sunday Mass, iscentral to theirreligious living. During Mass, the reception of the HolyCommunionisconsidered by themassomethingverysacred and nourishing for their spiritual lives. Yet, in the agreementreachedbetween the Italiangovernment and the Bishops for the opening of Churches for public worship, healthmattersappear to havetakenprecedence, and rightly so.Accordingly, eachchurchis to take in only a certainnumber of worshippers so thatsafedistancing from eachothercould be respected, and all of them (including the priestswho celebrate mass, except the principalcelebrant) are to wearface-masks. In addition, thosewhoapproach the altar to receiveHolyCommunion are to come in single file one by one (keeping a safedistancebetweeneach of them), and receiveonly in the hand with reverence. Eventhosewhohadbeenused to receivingHolyCommunion on the tongue are nowobliged to receive in the hand.This last measureismeantmainly to prevent saliva passing from onerecipient to another (throught the distributingpriest’shands/fingers), an ideal way to propogate the Corona virus.Moreover, the priestwhodistributesHolyCommunionissupposed to alwayswearhandgloves, as an extra-precautionarymeasure. Allthesestepsmaysurely soundbizzarebutanyrationalpersonwouldacceptthatsuchhealth-consciounessisnecessarily part of trueworship, in the sensealltheseprecautions are taken for the sake of savinghuman lives, for enhancingcommon good, in a sanitarysense. Afterall, Jesuspresent in the HolyCommunionis a life-givingGodthan a death-dealingGodwhodoesnotexpectstrictadherence to the usualritualisticexpressions of reverencerendered to Him under ordinarycircumstances. The Bishops, the priests and the laypeoplehere in Italyhavebeenveryfaithful in understanding the special emergencysituaiton, and so, arefollowingthoserulesmeticulously. 

AlthoughSri Lanka neverhad to go through the terribleagoniesbetween life and deathas the inhabitantshere in Italyhad to during the last couple of months, onewouldexpectwhenever the SriLankangovernmentpermits public religiousceremonies (hopefully in the verynear future), devoteesbelonging to all the religionstoo, wouldrespectfullyfollowwhateverguidelinesimposed by the government for the sake of common good, in order to save human lives. The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) hasgone on record sayingthatatleast for some yearswemayhave to learn to live with the Covid-19 virus asithasnow come to stay with humansall over the world. Till a reliable vaccine againstthisdeath-dealing virus isdiscovered, the world mayhave to adjust and adapt to existtogether with the virus. In doing so, thingsmaynot be the sameagain, even with regard to religiouspractices (no matterhowendearing and reverentialtheymayhadbeen to us in the past). Butthen, thisis the priceallhumanshave to payiftheywish to survivethemselves and letotherssurvive.Afterallwe are dealing with amatter of life and death!

Rev. Fr. VimalTirimanna, CSsR

Rome