Until the end of last month, the practising Catholic population of the United Kingdom was approximately zero – if by “practising Catholic” is meant someone who attends Mass on Sundays and Holy Days.

Until the end of last month, the practising Catholic population of the United Kingdom was approximately zero – if by “practising Catholic” is meant someone who attends Mass on Sundays and Holy Days. Even now, with church doors half open, normal Catholic life remains disrupted. So one truth the coronavirus has unearthed is that Christian discipleship cannot simply be defined by participation in the liturgy. The obligation under canon law to hear Mass every Sunday cannot be reimposed as if nothing has happened.

The distinction between the “practising” and the “lapsed” – meaning, essentially, non-practising – Catholic has been, in effect, dissolved. Not all those who were once practising, in this sense, will return to weekly Massgoing. That does not mean that they no longer live by the Gospel. Indeed, if the virus remains endemic in the population long-term, large gatherings of the faithful such as in a typical parish on a typical Sunday may become a thing of the past.

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