A group of inspired young Catholics, many of them within our Order and its wider family, is organising a wonderful volunteering initiative to assist our Bishops is opening churches safely and quickly. We have posted about this previously HERE. They already have 500 volunteers!
They have issued a press release, below. Please support them as much as you can, and pass the word to you families.
Please also write to your bishops to give the support from the laity which they badly need to influence the civil authorities. We have recently posted a letter with many good arguments you may use HERE. Write a short letter, they know the situation, they simply want encouragement.
Remember, the return of the Sacraments is for our benefit as laity. The Mass is still being offered, the immeasurable graces promised by Christ are still being gained. God has not abandoned us, nor has His Holy Church. It is the comfort of their presence we are lacking, most especially in the confessional, which, as the French Conseil d'Etat states, is our "fundament right" in a free society. Public worship is restored in that great once-Catholic country this weekend, as in the USA and Italy. God helps those who help themselves.
In Britain, which has known centuries of religious persecution, perhaps we still have to try a little harder. Let us ask the Martyrs to assist us!
Press release for immediate release 22/05/20
Young Catholics launch website to help reopen churches, encourage lay volunteers.
A group of young London based Catholics have today announced the launch of a new initiative aimed at enabling the swift reopening of Catholic Churches across the UK. The website, Open Church Doors, encourages lay Catholics to indicate their willingness to volunteer at their local parish in order to safely enable private prayer and liturgy in Catholic churches once again. Following an initial soft launch, slightly under 500 volunteers have signed up so far.
The website https://opendoors.church/ forwards the name and email address of each volunteer to their local parish, in order for each parish priest to know that they have sufficient help to, among other things, disinfect surfaces and manage social distancing inside.
In addition, the website is designed to show national support for the Bishop’s efforts in negotiations with the government in order to reopen churches as soon as possible. The volunteer counter on the website keeps track of the national total in a way individual emails to parishes otherwise would not be able to demonstrate.
Co-founder and Spokesman Anton’ de Piro said:
‘This initiative is designed first and foremost to be of support and help to bishops and priests in their efforts to get churches open again. Everybody involved in the project is rooting for all of them and praying for them and we hope that the numbers that sign up can be a concrete source of encouragement for all.’
Contact: openchurchdoors@gmail.com
07748 272 908
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