The Guardian assures us that Shakespeare really may have written Macbeth while self-isolating from the plague. Centuries before that, the plague hit what today is a united Italy but in the late 1200s was a long boot of little kingdoms and principalities.
It was the fleas on rats that spread that plague. The rats came in on ships from the many countries with which these little kingdoms traded. They were, in effect, victims of globalisation in the very infancy of the concept, operating commercial routes across eastern and western Europe and around the Mediterranean.
And today? Health professionals are fighting best they can. Self-isolation and social distancing really could help stop the monster in its tracks. And we are getting to grips with technology to access church services of all denominations. Our world is changing.
When we were told the churches would close, I had a conversation (electronic, of course) with a friend who agreed that ‘spiritually bereft’ was the right phrase for how we felt. I shed a tear when our parish priest sent us off after the last daily Mass with the words ‘Know you are loved’. Two days later I was tuning in to our Bishop, who now celebrates daily Mass on Youtube. On Sunday I ‘went’ to Mass at my parish church, where like many parishes across Scotland our priest did his best with the technology - but knows a man who’ll make it better.
Much of social media is swamped by increased anger and frustration expressed by frightened and anxious people. I hope we all learn the language of nonviolence. I hope clarity of instructions becomes best practice. But if we use technology for family, friendship and work, it could be that post COVID-19, we are better able to tackle that other major problem of the 21st century. Because we do have to stop driving our cars, boarding planes, and taking those cruises that Boris Johnson assumes every 70-plus in the UK enjoys as a matter of course. Sorry – that last remark was less than nonviolent.
In Argyll and the Isles, we are short of priests. During Lent, until the churches closed, I wore my SCIAF ambassador’s hat and delivered talks in three areas. In the first, the parish priest has ‘only’ to cover two churches, a 50-mile round trip each Sunday. In the second, covering four bases, the Saturday/Sunday mileage is 146 miles. In the third, four parishes add up to around 114 miles. I didn’t deliver the fourth set of talks because of the lockdown. It would have involved a 46 minutes each way ferry crossing, as it does for the priest every Sunday. Pastoral care of parishioners scattered across wide geographical areas adds to each man’s travelling.
These parish priests are wonderful – but exhausted. Wouldn’t it be kind if the laity accepted that maybe one week in two or four we celebrated Mass in reality and the rest were a virtual experience? There’s a spiritual need (which more and more people are recognising in themselves), and as we come to terms with a new world order, could this be one of the important compromises we make? That and eschewing vast quantities of toilet rolls and pasta…