I was speechless when Churches closed their doors, then incredulous to discover that clergy were forbidden to enter them even for private prayer. Now a new horror has arisen. At first I thought it might be fake news, but it was printed in The Times.
Apparently, the Bishop of Chelmsford, soon to be promoted Archbishop of York, has banned chaplains from ministering to patients at their bedsides.
As I remarked in this column last week, during the interdict that the Pope imposed on England in 1208, priests were at least allowed to hear the confessions of the dying, but not now apparently.
Given the valiant ministry of the Saints and the Church throughout plague and warfare, even stretching back to the Gospel accounts of Our Lord’s ministry to lepers, we have now come to a pretty poor state of affairs.
It’s enough to turn one Presbyterian