Real Presence

Real Presence

The coronavirus has a tendency to bring out the best and the worst in us. So far it seems that solidarity is trumping selfishness. But the crisis has drawn attention to the relentless struggle of the poor in Britain; as our leader points out this week, the good society is one in which every last person in need is noticed and cared for. As Masses are suspended and churches are closed, Ellen Teague reports on how Catholics across the country are (virtually) flocking to online Masses, while Thomas O'Loughlin sees this as a moment to deepen our understanding of the Eucharist. The government had been prepared to allow churches to remain open for individual worship, but the bishops decided to close them. “We are not looking for loopholes, ” Cardinal Vincent Nichols explained. Melanie McDonagh argues that Catholics, taking all necessary precautions, should have been allowed to sit in church and pray. Joanna Moorhead was at the last public Mass to be celebrated at Westminster Cathedral before the shutdown. It was business as usual. In the story of the Church, being unable to attend Mass has happened many times, in many places. This too shall pass.
 
Nathan Jeffay writes from Jerusalem, where the coronavirus has succeeded where international diplomacy has failed, bringing Israeli and Palestinian leaders to work together in the face of a deadly common enemy. Rome correspondent Christopher Lamb reports that Pope Francis is urging bosses to show solidarity with their workers, and our correspondents in Europe, in Africa, Asia, the United States and Latin America tell the extraordinary story of how Catholics are experiencing and responding to the pandemic right across the globe. 
 
Keep an eye on our website, where the latest news stories are being posted several times a day. We have compiled an online directory of resources for Catholics during the pandemic, Isolated but not Alone, constantly being updated:  links to services being live-streamed, and information and advice on where to find online counselling and support groups. 
 
Elsewhere in eight pages of news from Britain, Ireland and around the world, Catherine Pepinster reports that letters belonging to Mother Teresa of Calcutta have turned up on Antiques Roadshow, of all places. Dorothy Day’s granddaughter, Kate Hennessy, tells Liz Dodd that the founder of Catholic Worker was totally real and totally flawed – and yet certainly a saint. The Tablet’s Letters page is the place to listen to the Catholic conversation at its liveliest. This week: the pandemic, of course, women deacons, Hitler’s Pope, ecumenism and lay leadership.
 
We are attuned to a constant stream of entertaining diversions and the prospect of several weeks of isolation is alarming many of us. Roderick Strange takes inspiration from the life of Cardinal Van Thuan, who spent nine years in solitary confinement in Vietnam, and Sara Maitland, who has lived alone for many years – and who has just turned 70 – suggests where we can find joy and laughter in the midst of solitude. 
 
And what should we read during this time of house arrest? In five pages of Books, Anthony Gardner suggests Jonathan Bates’ epic biography of William Wordsworth; A.N. Wilson recommends half a dozen crime novels, including a magnificent new translation of Maigret’s final case; Michael Glover enjoys two new poetry collections and a chance to eavesdrop on the wondrous burblings of Walt Whitman; Ariane Bankes welcomes Richard Harries’ beautifully illustrated primer in faith; Jimmy Burns admires a dark account of espionage in Britain by a veteran  spook-watcher; Julia Langdon rounds up three books about wonderfully difficult women; and – if you’d prefer to keep your freshly scrubbed hands away from a dusty book – Julian Margaret Gibbs is gripped by the audio book of Bernardine Evaristo’s Booker Prize co-winner. Finally, Isabel Lloyd is transported by Tim Dee’s latest ruminations on the natural  world. “All we can do with life,” she concludes, “and our extraordinary planet, is to pay attention to it. And hope that somewhere spring will come round again.” That’s the one I’ve ordered. 
 
In Arts, D.J. Taylor enjoys a radio documentary about the chaplain to a railway company and Lucy Lethbridge watches seven seekers negotiate a rocky Balkan mountain trail in the BBC’s Easter flagship offering, Pilgrimage. Our own Adrian Chiles was amongst the celebrity striders. In his column this week, he’s missing the delicious agony of following West Brom – but finding to his surprise that the thing he misses most isn’t the footy but the other fans. Touching. 
 
In her fifth Lenten meditation, Laurentia Johns reflects on an enchanting YouTube video of a severely deaf baby captured at the moment when her new hearing aids are switched on, her face lighting up with life and joy at hearing her mother’s voice. “It’s a striking visual metaphor for how we are all made for the Word of God, and only thrive when alive with God’s life.” 
 
Wishing you all good health.

Brendan Walsh
Editor of The Tablet