Billy Kennedy on churches: Archbishop Welby reflects on church covid closures

However, the archbishop defended his specific actions by saying it was not just him at the helm, but that the decision was made by a number of senior clergy, adding with an aside that he “isn’t a Pope”.

The Church of England’s most senior cleric said he would be more cautious about closing the churches in the future, should pandemic restrictions return.

The archbishop, in an interview in the current issue of the Radio Times, said: “It wasn’t just me. It’s not a dictatorship. I am not the Pope. But I had an influence and I’m not sure I got that right. If I had the time again, I would be more cautious about closing the churches.

“At the time, we were being told the covid virus can stay on surfaces for ages and that it could kill 30 per cent of the people who caught it.”

Churches were closed in 2020, when the pandemic first began to take hold in the United Kingdom. Government-enforced restrictions meant churchgoers were unable to attend places of worship over Easter and in months following.

Incredibly, Church of England clergy were even banned by their own hierarchy from entering the premises to record live sermons, a diktat that caused much consternation and irritation across the religious spectrum in mainland Britain. It led to significant financial difficulties for many parishes.

Once churches were able to reopen, people were unable to sing aloud, and congregational mask-wearing returned in the lead-up to Christmas of that year.

Now, churches across the UK are largely able to enforce their own rules, but the Church of England official guidance reminds clerics and parishioners: “Everyone is known and loved individually by God and that as many members within one body we are called to be responsible to and for one another, respecting the more vulnerable whose suffering is our suffering.”

*In Northern Ireland, churches were closed after the covid pandemic emerged in the early part of 2020 (March-July). This was dictated under regulations set down from the Stormont Executive.

Later in January 2021, leaders of the mainstream Northern Ireland churches themselves decided, after consultation with senior health officials regarding the worsening Coronavirus situation, that the church buildings should close again.

Churches did not re-open until Easter Sunday of that year. They remain open for services and other activities, but with necessary health regulations in place.

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