Liturgical Lockdown. Covid and the Absence of the Laity. A New Zealand Perspective.

Liturgical Lockdown. Covid and the Absence of the Laity. A New Zealand Perspective is the story of the experience of Covid-19's impact on liturgy and parish life in New Zealand. It is the narrative of the changes to pastoral and liturgical life that were necessary to meet the needs of social lockdown. In 2020 and again in 2021, liturgical lockdown brought our sacramental system to a grinding halt.
In losing the sacred physical space, we also lost the presence of the laity at Sunday Mass. This changed our foundational understanding of the liturgical community. Liturgical Lockdown brought a return to a pre-Vatican II model of priesthood and implemented more liturgical, social and church change than any council, pope, bishop or parish priest could imagine. By recounting one parish's story of disruption and innovation, J.
P Grayland shows how the innovation of virtual worship has disrupted liturgical and pastoral life. J. P. Grayland, is a priest of 30 years and pastor of three parishes in Palmerston North, New Zealand.