THE Bishop of Limerick has told parishes in the diocese to defer all communions and confirmations until further notice on foot of intervention from the Department of the Taoiseach and public health advice.
A spokesman for Brendan Leahy said the Bishop had written to parishes to defer ceremonies, following “communication from the Taoiseach’s department this afternoon”.
“First Holy Communion and Confirmation ceremonies are to be deferred until further notice and no ceremonies should be rescheduled until public health advice allows,” read a statement issued by the diocese this evening.
In a letter addressing parents and children, teachers and priests, Bishop Leahy said it was with great regret that, following both the email from the Taoiseach’s department today and a recommendation last week from the department of public health mid west, he concluded it was necessary to postpone the ceremonies.
“Due to the uncertainty at the moment regarding the impact of the Delta variant, we have been strongly advised that no ceremonies should be rescheduled until public health advice allows,” Bishop Leahy informed his flock.
“I deeply regret that we are in this position again of having to defer these special celebrations that you all had committed to and were so looking forward to.”
“Your preparations still stand. However, I appreciate this is a huge disappointment to all concerned and I would dearly wish if circumstances were different. It is not something we anticipated a number of weeks back when we were requested to defer until after the anticipated post July 5th lifting of restrictions.”
“But given that the Taoiseach’s request, based on public health advice, has come so quickly following last week’s recommendation from the HSE in the Mid-West, it is clear that there is really no choice but to take this on board.”
The Bishop said that while he regretted the timing and that families have only a matter of days to react ahead of the first scheduled ceremonies next week, “we should not ignore warnings given about the substantial threat from the Delta variant and subsequent advice from the Taoiseach’s department relating to this”.
“If anything, this latest COVID-19 set-back is reminding us all again of our vulnerability. COVID has, indeed, reminded us of many things but, above all, our need to do whatever we can to protect the vulnerable in society,” he said.
“So, it is with a heavy heart that I ask you to accede to the Government’s strong advice to defer,” Bishop Leahy concluded.
Last Friday, Bishop Leahy stated, despite a HSE recommendation for dioceses in the region to defer ceremonies to September, that “many of the of parishes at this moment are proceeding”.
The HSE recommendation, he then said, “has come as a surprise to many given local press coverage over recent days regarding low level COVID numbers in the Mid-West”.
