The Catholic Bishops of England and Wales have issued a reflection on post-pandemic recovery and the challenges faced by the Church in encouraging people back to the Church and her Sacraments.

In a reflection titled The Day of the Lord, the bishops also praise families, parish communities and those who have worked tirelessly in hospitals, care homes, schools and prisons during these challenging times of ill-health, grief and isolation.

The bishops salute the leadership of our priests and also express gratitude for the “immense efforts” of those who have provided food for those most in need:

“The generosity shown in the distribution of so very many meals has given eloquent expression to the mercy, love and compassion which are at the very heart of God. Many have been touched by the joy of meeting Christ in the poor; and many of the poor by the joy of meeting Christ in selfless parishioners.”

While acknowledging the creative and diverse methods of outreach during the pandemic – not least the live streaming of Mass – their attention then turns to the post-pandemic world.

The bishops recognise that it is impossible to predict the pace at which we will emerge from the pandemic but state: “What is clear is the challenge we face of bringing our communities and the practice of the faith to a still greater expression and strength.”

They identify the groups of people they are seeking to reach:

• Those who have lost the habit of coming to church and who may be anxious about doing so.
• Those who may not want to re-establish a pattern of Catholic worship – who may have seen a gap widen between the spiritual dimension of their lives and any communal expression of that spiritual quest.
• The “Covid-curious” who may have encountered the Catholic Church for the first time during the pandemic.

The bishops highlight the “veritable treasures” of the Catholic Church as being the tools at their disposal to rise to these challenges. The greatest treasure is, of course, the sacramental life of the Church and at its heart, the Eucharist.

“It is the Eucharist, the celebration of the Mass, that makes the Church. And it is the Church, in the gift of the Holy Spirit, which makes the Eucharist. The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the lifeblood of the Church. It requires our active participation and, to be fully celebrated, our physical presence.

“At this moment, then, we need to have in our sights the need to restore to its rightful centrality in our lives the Sunday Mass, encouraging each to take his or her place once again in the assembly of our brothers and sisters.

“We face the task of seeking to nurture the sense of Sunday as ‘a weekly gift from God to his people’, and something we cannot do without; to see Sunday as the soul of the week, as giving light and meaning to all the responsibilities we live out each day; to see the Sunday Eucharist as food for the unique mission with which we have been endowed.”

The bishops met for their spring plenary meeting from April 19 to 22.