The Catholic Church in Scotland is to approach the Scottish Government with plans for the phased reopening of parishes, according to a senior bishop.
It will establish a working group of outside advisers to draw up a strategy that would allow buildings to open again and Masses to return.
The strategy will include social distancing, with the possible removal of pews and the suspension of the Sign of Peace, use of Holy Water at the back of churches and temporary discontinued use of hymn books and news bulletins.
Some of these measures were already in place ahead of lockdown as the Covid-19 pandemic grew in Scotland.
READ MORE: Amazon Prime launch for documentary into Scots surgeon's 'miracle cure' for drug addiction
Bishop John Keenan, of Paisley Diocese, said the Church has been in discussions with the Scottish Government over issues such as funerals, which have been restricted to immediate family of the deceased.
An independent group will now be formed to draw up a strategy but Bishop Keenan said some changes to normal practice will be needed.
"We are not going to ask for our churches to be open when we don't think it is safe," he told the PA news agency.
"One priest in a big church looked at social distancing - he had a church of 500 and he said that the maximum you could get in was 60, maybe two to a bench for instance."
He said parishes have been hit financially by the closures.
"Our diocese, we are OK for the first part of the year but the longer it goes on the tougher it will get," he said.
"Most Catholics still want to give money to the Church on a weekly basis if we would give them means to do so.
"Some have been furloughed or lost jobs so they might not be able to but a lot have been contacting their parish priest to ask how to donate.
"I think ultimately we will be fine because if we put in place natural and easy means where people can donate they will do so."
Other plans include giving those who have lost loved ones during the pandemic an opportunity to say goodbye, as they may have been restricted from being present in the hospital or at the funeral.
Bishop Keenan said: "Every priest I would say has buried someone with Covid.
READ MORE: Half of Scotland's care workers paid less than Real Living Wage
"We are conscious that once the lockdown is over we'll need to provide means for the family to grieve."
In a message to parishioners, Archbishop Leo Cushley, of St Andrews and Edinburgh Archdiocese, said: "We're doing what we can as bishops to speak to the Government and the authorities so that we are exploring how to move forward, what the next steps will be and how to open our churches as soon as we possibly can do so, doing it safely and doing it well."
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "We are in regular contact with all of Scotland's faith leaders and communities in order to understand their concerns and needs during this time, however, current guidance remains to stay at home and only travel where it is essential so there are currently no plans to reopen places of worship.
"We will engage in further discussion before communities might safely begin to consider reopening places of worship for services at the time it is safe to do so."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel