Covid-19: Churches May Not Be Back By End Of 2020-England Leading Bishop
Bishop Sarah Mullally DBE, who is currently the most senior female bishop in the Church of England – Geoff Pugh /Geoff Pugh
LAGOS MA 5TH (NEWSRANGERS)-Churches may not be back to normal by the end of the year, a leading bishop has warned. Bishop Sarah Mullally DBE, who is currently the most senior female bishop in the Church of England, as well as being a former Chief Nursing Officer, said that there would have to be significant changes to key aspects of Christian worship “for some time” to come.
“I don’t envisage, even up to the end of the year, we will be back to our normal services.
“We’ll have some churches doing things differently.
“And of course, this approach will depend on the part of the country you are in. Being in Devon is very different to being in the centre of London. So we need to approach this based on our local circumstances,” she told the BBC.
The Rt Rev Sarah Mullally, the Bishop of London, is leading the Church of England’s planning for reopening its buildings.
She added: “There are some very challenging questions that we’ll have to face, not least about singing and about the receiving of Holy Communion. So the future will look different.
“But we want to continue to support people in their spiritual journey with their faith.
“When we open our church buildings, we will still have to ensure physical distancing. We’ll have to make sure people can wash their hands on the way in and on the way out. We are likely not to be able to use hymn books or service sheets or sing.”
The coronavirus pandemic has forced the closure of religious buildings, prompting many communities to see a rise in the number of people opting to pray with online services during the lockdown.
The Rt Rev Mullally led a national online church service this morning, along with the Chief Nursing Officer for England, Ruth May, celebrating the work of nurses and healthcare workers and marking the 200th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale.
In her sermon, Bishop Sarah spoke of the cost that has been paid by nurses and midwives on the frontline of tackling coronavirus and the need to support them now and in the long term.
“This year is the International Year of the Nurse and Midwife. It would have been filled with events to celebrate their contribution to health and society,” she said.
“Instead, Covid-19 means that this year is filled with acts of compassion done by nurses and midwives, for which we are enormously grateful.”
She added that Florence Nightingale, who was in the front line in the battle to save lives and control infection during the Crimean War, knew of the long-term cost of her experiences – and that the “hardest of challenges” could only be overcome with the support of others.
“If we are going to really celebrate nurses and midwives this year, we need to support them through the cost that they have paid, and to continue to support them when all this is over,” she added.
The Bishop also spoke of her ‘two careers’ – as a nurse and a priest – and how they are both linked to her faith.
“People often ask me what it is like to have had two careers, one as a nurse and one as a priest,” she said.
“I will often respond saying that I have had one vocation, to follow Jesus Christ and to make his love and compassion known. I have sought to live my life in the service of others, like so many others do.”
The Telegraph
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Posted by News Rangers
on May 11 2020. Filed under Health, International, National.
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