Bishop Egan of Portsmouth has said he fears “apathy or a ‘maintenance mentality’” is to blame for the number of Catholic churches locked during the day.
In a blog for The Catholic Herald, the bishop said: “If we were authentic about mission and the desire to evangelise, then we would recognise that our churches are hugely important vehicles for evangelisation”.
He added: “We have in our churches the greatest treasure of all, Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. Why on earth would we wish to lock Him away from His people? Indeed, I would go so far as to say we have no right to do this.”
The blog follows a tweet the bishop sent last Sunday after visiting another diocese, which he has not named. In the tweet Bishop Egan decried the hypocrisy of churches that claim to be missional and yet remain locked, after he discovered several closed Catholic churches, including one displaying a poster with the words ‘from maintenance to mission’.
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Pope Francis has repeatedly called for churches to remain open but a spokeswoman from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference this week told The Tablet that there was no countrywide open-door policy and that individual bishops made these decisions.
“I expect it is very linked to location and the ability of the parish priest to ensure that the church will be safe from vandalism, due in part to the fact that the parishioners will be popping in from time to time to pray”, she said.
In his blog Bishop Egan, who said he encourages all the priests in his diocese to open their churches during the day, explained how an open church had been the catalyst for his own calling to the priesthood.
At the time of writing, an online survey posted by The Tablet asking whether churches should remain open and accessible during the day, had returned a 96 per cent response in the affirmative.
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