Bishop warns of ‘forces’ who will try to exploit Covid crisis

Dr Donal McKeown says groups exist in both society and church which have a narrative about the ‘fear agenda’ being promoted by the establishment to fool and control people.

“But that message seems to me to be just another fear agenda,” he said at the weekend. “It tells us to be afraid of the agenda of those who are telling us that we ought to be afraid of the virus. I know that there are forces which will seek to exploit the current pandemic in ways that suit their agendas and powerbases.

“For some people, every crisis is an opportunity, not for generosity or idealism but for greed and yet more power.”

The Bishop insisted it was a time for the church to “proclaim seeds of hope” and not promote a “counsel of despair” about its future.

“I’ve heard the argument that we ought not to be doing too much for parishioners now because they will have to get used to parishes offering less in the future. That narrative will find little support in the parables of sowing and growing. Our job in parishes is to do everything we can here and now for the people who need to hear good news – and leave it to God to worry about the future of the Church.

“I congratulate our parishes on reaching out to and gathering parishioners as soon as at all possible. We will make mistakes and have to learn lessons. And we must be sure that we do not endanger anyone. But Jesus would rather that we were remembered for being too zealous than for being too frightened.”