Catholic Priest in Ireland Fined for Not Restricting Access to Mass

Case information
Incident date
Country
Ireland
Place
Cavan
Categories
  • Government Restrictions
Attack Against
  • Faith
Societal Sphere
  • Governmental
Religious Freedom / Discrimination
  • Other (text field)
  • Lawsuit
  • Freedom of Association and Assembly
  • Freedom of Religion
Place of Incident
  • Church
Bias Indicators
  • Lack of Other Motive
  • Victim/Witness Perception
Reported to Police
  • No
Response of Local Authorities
  • Unknown
Symbolic image; not a photograph of the reported incident.Image credit: Alejandro Luengo on Unsplash

A Catholic priest in Ireland has been fined 500 Euros because he did not close the doors to his church while we was celebrating mass, so people would not be able join the church service. Due to government health measures, public religious services in the country have been suspended since 7 October 2020. In a parish newsletter, Father P.J. Hughes wrote: “Next Sunday marks the journey of Holy Week. It is hard to believe that for a second year people cannot come to take part in the ceremonies of Holy Week. Despite the size of the church and the holy place that it is because of the presence of Jesus in the Holy Tabernacle, the church has been deemed a hot spot for the spread of the virus by the gardaí.”

Sources