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News from our Zoom meeting 17 September 2020

ACTA Leeds members from eleven parishes in the Leeds Diocese met again to share experiences and observations on the impact of Coronavirus on the way we are practising (or not practising) our faith at this time
Dr.Stephen Bullivant’s booklet “Catholicism in the time of coronavirus” gives insights on the possible effects of Coronavirus on the Catholic Church. These range from the impact of death on the older demographic of the practising Catholic population (including clergy), the changing perception of Mass and the Eucharist, and the organisational changes Covid will necessitate as the Church’s Vatican COVID-19 commission seeks to ‘prepare the future’.
Bullivant’s observations can be downloaded free here
It incorporates Pope Francis’ Urbi et Orbi address given on 27^th March to an empty St.Peter’s Square on Easter this year, very powerful address to the world.
We considered five questions centring on how Catholicism during Covid is being expressed with so many restrictions in place.

It is not really known how the Diocese is monitoring the impact of Coronavirus. The sense of those present was that apart from the streamed Mass from Leeds Cathedral. There appeared to be little direct impact by the Bishop and Diocese on lay activity. We are getting on with responding to the impact of Coronavirus ourselves in our own parishes and our own groups. Numbers attending Masses since the churches were re-opened for public worship should be available because of records necessarily being kept.

We discussed how we viewed the impact of Coronavirus. John Battle spoke about how Catholics are trying to support others and some of the serious issues facing, and about to face, many people. Parents are frightened about the impact on their families. At the end of October furlough finishes and many people will move to Universal Credit. The rent “holiday” will be over and it is feared there will be a lot of rent debt and potential homelessness. There will be mental health challenges including despair and suicidal ideas. Samaritans, who include many Catholics, are very busy. Suicide attempts are rocketing in Leeds. Men between the ages of 20 and 45 are particularly at risk. Relationship problems are increasing because of increased stress. There was a strong feeling that the church needed to ‘face outwards’, developing hubs in our communities for signposting and offering support and signposting to others (eg access to foodbanks). Many of our priests need signposting information to link people with support. Saint Vincent de Paul Conferences around the Diocese have been very active in supporting people in need financially, with food and emotional support. Catholic Care is working around the Diocese and stepping up with mental health support. Caritas is active in the Diocese as an umbrella organisation. However we weren’t sure what was happening currently. Growing Old Grace-fully is a member of Caritas, a Diocesan Charity working for the spiritual care of older people, encouraging older-friendly parishes and has a number of Covid related spiritual resources, advice and signposting information on its website. There appear to be no Catholic Marriage Counsellors working officially in the Diocese.

The Justice and Peace Commission is active and has a Social Justice Directory. We need to tap into churches and Pastoral Parish Councils and clergy to give information and share good practice. However we know that many parishes do not have effective PPCs and lay support and involvement is very varied across our parishes. It was acknowledged that many pre-Covid Mass attending Catholics might experience a ‘disconnect’ between their previous ways of expressing their faith (eg by attending weekly Mass) and the likely impact that changes would bring about (eg by becoming more ‘outward’ looking in our local communities)

Pope Francis: Dear brothers and sisters, indifference, self-centredness, division, and forgetfulness are not words we want to hear at this time. We want to ban these words forever.(Urbi et Orbi address, Easter 2020)

It is not really known how the Bishop and the Diocese is communicating with and supporting Parish Priests. Is there any guidance? Support? On the face of it there is no evident publicly known coordination from the top. This was contrasted with Pope Francis’ Urbi et Orbi address this year, linking the ramifications of Covid to poverty and the needs of the world. This is an ‘Imprimatur’ from the top, an exhortation to bishops, priests and lay people to act accordingly. Some parishes represented at our meeting do not have a functioning PPC. One parish had had one PPC meeting since March, concentrating on the regulations for opening the church but attempts to have further meetings (formal or wider, face to face or on zoom) have not materialised. Parish bulletins and newsletters are being printed and are online. In some parishes they are being distributed by the SVP or parishioners to those who are housebound or can’t view online. Some parish websites are not being updated and some are difficult to navigate. (Bullivant expresses the importance of ‘the parish website, social media accounts, email and text communications.’ He says ‘Perhaps for the first time, those in charge of parish communications have had to think seriously about how best to use them to connect with people, whether existing parishioners or anyone else.’ P.41.Denise Mason has found the course she is following for the Certificate in Pastoral Ministry very illuminating and sustaining at this time. Might now be a good time for parishes/the Diocese to enrol people onto such courses?

We agreed that as ACTA Leeds we focus on prayer to sustain us on our faith journeys, dialogue, the sharing good parish practice and facilitating action. But who with? The database of ACTA Leeds supporters, zoom meetings, email correspondence and the two-monthly newsletters, (as well as, more recently, Facebook and Twitter) are all part of the rich tapestry of networking available to us. We felt that WhatsApp groups tended to work better when smaller. We did wonder when the Diocesan Pastoral Council would be meeting to consider the impact of the Coronavirus on the Diocese. That would provide an excellent opportunity for lay-involvement and the sharing of experiences and dialogue in response to Pope Francis’ call to ‘Prepare the Future’. Meanwhile ACTA Leeds would continue to be a hub for sharing information about meetings, reflections, discussions and action within the Diocese and elsewhere.

We thanked Nick Shields for hosting the Zoom Meeting and Pippa Bonner for taking notes.