Liturgical Lockdown. Covid and the Absence of the Laity. A New Zealand Perspective describes Covid-19's impact on liturgy and pastoral life in New Zealand.
In 2020 and 2021 Catholic liturgy went online because of physical and social distancing. No one could go to Mass. In some countries, churches were locked. Mass became the place of the bishop or priest alone with laypeople online. Was this just the response to Covid or did it illustrate a deeper conviction that the laity is not essential to the celebration of Mass?
Covid responses to worship have taken us backwards to pre-Conciliar thinking and practice. Virtual mass, spiritual communion, drive-through confession, and walk-up communion all featured during the lockdown. They are indications of a consumerist approach to Catholic worship.
By recounting one parish's story of disruption and innovation the author explores the dominant responses to Covid-19's Liturgical Lockdown in this narrative of pastoral and liturgical change.