Bishop ‘astonished’ that Shropshire's churches being told they must close again
Church leaders across Shropshire have given a mixed reaction to the move towards a four-week lockdown to stem the spread of coronavirus.
The Rev Mark Davies, the Catholic Bishop of Shrewsbury, said evidence was needed of the reasons to close places of worship.
He said: "The Prime Minister made no reference in his statement to public worship so we were astonished to find in national guidance that the Government was seeking the authority of parliament to close all places of worship.
“It is a momentous act for any political authority to seek to ban public worship across a nation.
“No evidence has been offered to justify why the Government seeks to ban public worship that invariably takes place amid some of the most stringent Covid safety measures in the whole of society."
More Covid-19 coverage:
He added: "We are asking our government and political representatives to provide the evidence on which they seeking to impose a ban on all public worship in England. We believe that public worship is not part of the problem we face rather it is part of the solution to this deeply human crisis.”
His views have been echoed by the Reverend Gareth Evans, of Shrewsbury Evangelical Church who said: "We are somewhat dismayed at Government policy on churches which are prevented from meeting again for public worship while schools are allowed to open for five days a week. We only open once a week.
"There is spiritual and mental value in the congregation being able to meet.
"There is a question mark over the Government's thought process and the reason for the decision. However, we are following the regulations and helping to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
"For those who do not have any internet, which is mainly the older people, we send them a printed version of the service. It's all about trying to care for people by minimising the risks."
He said like most churches it now operates online prayer and Bible study meetings and will now revert to broadcasting the main Sunday service.
The Reverend Tim Carter, is the team leader of All Saints' Church, in Wellington, and St Catherine' Church in Eyton.
He said: "For us it's about not getting caught up in what we can't do, but working safely with what we can do as Christians pointing people to Jesus in what is a really hard time."
"We have been doing a blend of online streamed and pre-recorded services. At All Saints we opened for a live service since the beginning of September and are streaming.
"Some folks have come into church and some have stayed at home which is not as good as everybody getting together, but it's been all right. There has been some innovation in the way we do things. Mid-week a lot of people are looking for others in the community and carrying out visits.
"Looking forward, we have been told we cannot have our gathered worship. We will continue to have services just on live-stream as people will not have the option of coming into the building.
"The pastoral care will step up as people are potentially going to be isolated with some unable to get out as the dark nights and bad weather sets in."
The Rev Keith Osmund-Smith, of Madeley Baptist Church, explained: "Over the past seven months I have been learning how to broadcast as our services moved online in the spring. Since March I've done about 248 interactions online which has been quite a lot.
"In September and October we did open up on two Sunday mornings for services for those people who we were no able to keep in touch with. Most of our members have been accessing those, but some can't.
"I don't think there are any live services being held in any Baptist churches in Telford. At Madeley we run a Food Share collection point outside on Saturdays from 11am to 1pm which is well patronised and we expect that will increase has we head towards Christmas and a another lockdown."
Mr Osmund-Smith, who is also has chaplaincy duties explained that since July he had been able to have a weekly surgery at Malinsgate Police Station and visited others in the Telford area which is now expected to change from this week, but all his Shropshire Fire & Rescue Service contact had been carried out online since March at the request of the brigade.
He said that Telford Street Pastors had resumed activities in the summer following the main lockdown, but stopped following the introduction of the 10pm pub and restaurant curfew at the end of September.
