Fr. David Muscat was prophetic in opposing the idea that the unvaccinated should not be allowed in our churches

Do you remember the media guru of Pope Francis, Joe Borg, writing in The Times and advising the local bishops to shun all those Catholics who refused to take the COVID-19 vaccine from entering places of Catholic worship? Back then, Joe Borg advised the bishops to ban all unvaccinated from entering the local churches. The words used were “a threat to society”. The high priests in the time of Jesus Christ would have called them “unclean”. The concept of “unclean’ was applied in Jesus’ time to all those considered as a threat to the community. Thus, they were not allowed into the temple of the Lord. Like Fr. David Muscat, Christ challenged these concepts and supported the “unclean’s” right to enter the temple of the Lord.

Now, the Daily Telegraph is quantifying the cost, in terms of faithful, that the measures imposed by the UK government had cost the Church of England. The question that one needs to ask is, has our local Church quantified what the shutdown has cost? I doubt it. The only priest who spoke against the shutdown of churches and was open arms receiving the unvaccinated was Fr. David Muscat. And for daring to challenge madness, a coveted war was waged against him in the mainstream media. However, while the main churches have experienced a decline in their church attendance, Fr. David Muscat has experienced a spiral increase in attendance at the chapel where he says mass. This analysis in the Daily Telegraph does not hold for him because he remained a faithful servant of the Lord. Christ’s words will hold good for him; “thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things”. (Matthew 25:23)

The pandemic has cost the Church of England nearly 170,000 worshippers, the latest weekly attendance figures show, despite a recent rebound.

Average weekly attendance at Church of England services rose by almost 5 per cent in 2023 to reach 685,000, up from from 654,000 in 2022.

It was a third year of consecutive growth in people attending services, the provisional figures show. Children’s attendance in 2023 was up by almost 6 per cent, from 87,000 in 2022 to 92,000 in 2023.

But the numbers are still below pre-pandemic levels, with 854,000 having attended each week in 2019.

The Church, which has released the figures ahead of its autumn Statistics for Mission report, said the analysis suggests in-person attendance is drawing closer to the pre-pandemic trend. Archbishops praised the “noticeable growth” in congregations.

However, in February The Telegraph reported that Sunday church attendance was just 80 per cent of what it was in 2019. Some 133,200 regular parishioners had not returned to services when Covid restrictions ended, despite the Church claiming that it had “bounced back” after the pandemic.‌

The new analysis shows church attendance has more than halved since 1987, prompting clergy to warn it was “a doom spiral of the church’s own choosing”.

Officials said that in 2021 all-age Sunday attendance was 22.3 per cent below the projected pre-pandemic trend, but the latest figures reveal the gap narrowed to just 6.7 per cent last year.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, said: “This is very welcome news and I hope it encourages churches across the country. I want to thank our clergy and congregations who have shown such faith, hope and confidence over recent years to share the gospel with their communities.

“I’m especially heartened to hear that more children are coming along to church and I’m grateful to everyone involved in that ministry.

“These are just one set of figures, but they show without doubt that people are coming to faith in Jesus Christ here and now – and realising it’s the best decision they could ever make.”

The Archbishop of York, the Most Rev Stephen Cottrell, said: “This is very good news. For the first time in a long time we have seen noticeable growth.

“Of course we don’t yet know whether this growth is a trend but I take it as a great encouragement that our focus on reaching more people with the good news of Jesus, establishing new Christian communities, wherever they are, revitalising our parishes, and seeking to become a younger and more diverse church, making everyone feel welcome, is beginning to make a difference.”

The Rev Marcus Walker, rector of Great St Bartholomew’s in London and chairman of the Save the Parish campaign group, said: “Thank goodness churches across the country are recovering from the disaster of Covid and the mismanagement of the Church’s response at a national level.

“As people are finding their way back to their parish churches, the key question is whether the church will follow suit and start funding the front line again.”