“We have been buried for three months in the reality of closed churches. Over the next days, the stone will be rolled back. As with Jesus, it will be to a new way of being alive and being the Body of Christ,” said Bishop Donal McKeown, Diocese of Derry.

“We will perhaps look back on these years, remembering not just COVID-19 but also a pandemic of banality that expects little for and from human beings.”

“It has been very difficult for us not being able to gather together in our beautiful church buildings. We’ve had to rely on spiritual communion,” said Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh.

Focus Ireland and its partners have moved 80 families with 150 children out of homelessness since the start of the COVID-19 restrictions, while the Peter McVerry Trust has housed 26 people since the virus struck and expects more to move soon.

The physical and mental well-being of ‘cocooned’ people is now emerging as a key concern, says Deirdre Garvey, CEO, The Wheel.

“Nobody was disrespectful. Certainly there were people who were indifferent, people who did not know exactly what was going on, but there were people who stopped and blessed themselves and wanted a blessing,” Bishop Cullinan said.

The God who is our Father is forever creator, life-giver. Not in spite of darkness, pain and death but in and through them – Bishop Brendan Kelly.