Priest Don Marcello gives a blessing to the coffins of coronavirus victims inside the church of San Giuseppe in Seriate, Italy, on March 28. The prospect of death has always been real. (Photo: Piero Cruciatti/AFP)
Efforts to control the spread of Covid-19 have included halting liturgical gatherings in many parts of the world. What will happen when Catholics once again can gather to share the Eucharist and do all the other things that mark them as Christians? I do not have a crystal ball that enables me to see the future, but I have been speculating upon what our communities may look like after months of being closed.
In 1995, Professor Jonathan Mann of the Harvard University School of Public Health in the United States predicted, “The history of our time will be marked by recurrent eruptions of newly discovered diseases.”A quarter-century ago, Mann was speaking in the midst of the new AIDS epidemic, and since then the world has seen several other epidemics, with the coronavirus pandemic we are living through now as the latest and possibly most extensive (though not yet the most deadly) so far.Are we in the early stages of this pandemic, or is it coming under control? Will a cure or a preventive vaccine be developed soon, or will it take a year or more? What will the mortality ultimately be? In the meantime, will the virus evolve beyond the power of our medical interventions? What effect will it have on the world economy? How long will it last? Will it touch me or those I love? We do not, and cannot, know the answer to any of those questions.Mann was obviously correct, and this pandemic shall not be the last we must face and deal with. The economic, social, and religious upheaval we are experiencing today may be part of an ongoing pattern of new viral and bacterial epidemics girdling the globe, especially as climate change causes varying degrees of ecological, social, agricultural, demographic, political, and epidemiological chaos. What we are facing now may become a new normal. An immediate impact of the coronavirus on Catholics has been the cancellation of Masses with a congregation. A measure intended for a few weeks has now been in place for months. In Tokyo, we have not had Eucharistic celebrations with a congregation since just after Ash Wednesday, and their resumption may be months off.What might we expect when after a quarter of the year or longer we are once again able to gather in our churches?The first thing will be joy at once again being free to gather, to share, and to belt out favorite hymns.That will be followed by mourning and coping with immediate changes. The community may have lost members to Covid-19, including key members. Surviving members may have lost family, friends, and employment. Not a few people will come out of the crisis with a shaken faith. After months without collection income, parishes may have to cut staff and programs.It is likely that the most noticeable change will be a large reduction in the size of communities.Father William Grimm is the publisher of UCA News and based in Tokyo, Japan.