Sir, – Fifty years on after Vatican II, when the church was defined as the People of God, the emphasis has now unfortunately returned to the church as a building.
This regression is now very evident as the clerical church, due the restrictions caused by Covid-19, is intent on packing as many people as possible into restricted church building spaces.
What the faithful now want is a return to the church not as a clericalised church building but as a welcoming community.
Admittance to the Sunday Eucharist cannot be limited to allocated ticket-holders while others are excluded.
Such an approach contradicts the inclusive community that Jesus lived and proclaimed.
If there is no room for parishioners in church buildings, why can’t they celebrate their own community Sunday Eucharist in their homes, as the early Christians did? Perhaps that is the future of the church. – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN BUTLER,
Malahide,
Co Dublin.