Gardaí have stopped the distribution of holy Communion [1] at a church in Dublin. The new archbishop of Dublin, Dermot Farrell, has supported the move [2].
Fr Binoy Matthew, a parish priest in west Dublin had been giving the sacrament to parishioners every week after online mass throughout the pandemic.
Anyone receiving communion adhered strictly to sanitising and social distancing protocols and came to the church over a two-hour period. “They came through the main body of the church, received communion, and left through a side exit. There was no congregating,” he said.
“It is not as if the whole world was coming to us – it was a small group of people who carried out the correct sanitising and protocols. They didn’t stay in the church for prayers or gather in groups.”
He said gardaí told them they we were in breach of Covid protocols “so we decided not to continue.”
A garda spokesperson said they became aware of “an event involving organised activity taking place in a church” and engaged with the relevant people.
“This organised activity is no longer taking place,” he said.
Fr Matthew questioned the move: “You can have over a hundred people in a small supermarket or congregating in a queue for a takeaway coffee. But you cannot allow people to come individually to their parish to receive communion. It seems this is what the Government wants,” he said.