Churches in Northern Ireland may soon be rolling out “drive-through” services in a bid to serve their congregations during the current coronavirus lockdown.

The innovative services, which have been popularised in the United States, were suggested as an alternative form of church gathering in a new proposal by the Northern Ireland executive outlining plans to gradually reduce lockdown restrictions.

The idea, which has been welcomed by Christian leaders across the country, may involve congregants gathering together in church car parks, windows closed, with the minister leading worship from a stage at the front.

Billy Jones, pastor of the Dunseverick Baptist Church, explained to The Telegraph: “Hopefully from May 24, I will be leading the sermon from a lorry which has a platform attached with a sound system. People can tune in to a specific radio frequency from their vehicles too if they want.”

“It will mean the local community can come together with a desire to encounter God and can enjoy the fellowship by expressing faith – even if it is from their cars.”

The Church of England has yet to comment on the potential for hosting drive-through services, while the Church of Scotland has completely ruled out engaging in the practice.

In the US, a drive-through service in Mississippi prompted intervention from the Department of Justice (DOJ) after congregants were issued fines for violating the state’s lockdown order. Attorney General William Barr was outraged after police showed up at Temple Baptist Church in Greenville and fined eight members $500 each for gathering to worship in their own cars.

A message at the scene that said, in part, “Bet you stay home now,” has led the police in Mississippi to suspect arson. First Pentecostal Church in Holly Springs, Miss., after the fire. Credit… Kelly Mcmillen/Marshall County Sheriff’s Office, via Associated Press.

The burning of a church in northern Mississippi is being investigated as arson because of a spray-painted message at the scene that seemed to criticize the church’s defiance of coronavirus restrictions.

First Pentecostal Church had sued the city of Holly Springs, Miss., which is about an hour southeast of Memphis, arguing that its stay-at-home order had violated the church’s right to free speech and interfered with its members’ ability to worship.

After fire-fighters put out the blaze, the police found a message, “Bet you stay home now you hypokrits,” spray-painted on the ground near the church’s doors, according to Maj. Kelly McMillen of the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department. A photograph of the graffiti also appears to show an atomic symbol with an “A” in the centre, which is sometimes used as a logo for atheist groups.

A Hong Kong cardinal told CNA that changes to Hong Kong’s status in China could threaten the religious freedom of Catholics and other religious believers.

The legislature of China on May 28 approved a resolution to impose new “security laws” on its formerly autonomous region, Hong Kong— a move pro-democracy protestors and Catholics in the country fear will undermine Hong Kongers’ freedoms, including freedom of religion.

The new laws aim to criminalize anything Beijing considers “foreign interference,” secessionist activities, or subversion of state power, the Washington Post reports. The laws also could allow Chinese security forces to operate in the city.

Cardinal Joseph Zen, Bishop emeritus of Hong Kong, told CNA that he worries that the new laws will be used to subvert the freedom of religion that Hong Kongers currently enjoy.

Hong Kong has had broad protections for the freedom of worship and for evangelization, while in mainland China, there is a long history of persecution for Christians who run afoul of the government.

Most needed at the moment is prayer, Zen said. “We have nothing good to hope for. Hong Kong is simply completely under [China’s] control. We depend on China even for our food and water. But we put ourselves in the hands of God,” Cardinal Zen told CNA in a May 27 interview.

Hong Kong is a “special administrative region” of China, meaning it has its own government but remains under Chinese control. It was a British colony until 1997, when it was returned to China under a “one country, two systems” principle, which allowed for its own legislature and economic system.

The Vatican has disciplined another charismatic religious leader, exiling the founder of an Italian monastic community over governance problems.

Enzo Bianchi, a Catholic layman who founded the Bose Monastery in northern Italy, had enjoyed the blessing of three popes for his outreach to other Christians. He was appointed an ecumenical expert for Vatican meetings in 2008, 2012 and 2018, and Pope Francis named him as an adviser to the Vatican’s ecumenical office in 2014.

But the Vatican launched an investigation last year after what the community said were “a series of concerns from the Holy See that indicated a tense situation and problems concerning the exercise of authority by the founder, governance issues and the fraternal climate in the community.” Bianchi, 77, started the community during the 1960s and handed off its leadership in 2017, but apparently the transition didn’t go smoothly.

A record number of people left the Church in the German Archdiocese of Munich and Freising last year, a local statistical office said on May 26.

The Munich statistical office told CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, on May 26 that 10,744 Catholics formally withdrew from the Church in 2019. It noted that this was a fifth higher than in 2018, when 8,995 people left.

Statisticians said this was the first time that annual departures had surpassed the 10,000 mark since records began. Previously, the highest figure was 9,010, set in 1992.

Cardinal Reinhard Marx, the 66-year-old Archbishop of Munich and Freising, announced in February that he would not stand for re-election as president of the German bishops’ conference. He cited his age and his desire to spend more time in his archdiocese, in the Catholic heartland of Bavaria, which he has led since 2008.

In March, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Bavaria’s public-service broadcaster, reported that people gave a variety of reasons for leaving, including a desire to stop paying church tax, the clerical abuse scandal and the position of women within the Church.

The Jesuit General Curia in Rome has announced that its former superior general, Father Adolfo Nicolás, died on May 20 in Tokyo, Japan. He was 84.

He was a member of the Jesuit community of Loyola House in Kamishakujii and had been ill for several years.

A statement said he is deeply mourned by the Jesuits of Japan and Asia-Pacific, his family and compatriots in Spain, and his many friends around the world.

“I offer my sincere condolences to the Jesuit province of Japan, to Father Nicolas’ family, to the Jesuits in Spain and the Philippines and to his many friends all around the world,” said Father Arturo Sosa, current superior general.

“Father Nicolás gave of himself throughout his life. It was a life marked by intense service, calm availability and a deep ability to inculturate in Japan, where he went as a young Jesuit. It was a culture he loved dearly and to which he committed himself.

“His time as general was marked by his sense of humour, his courage, his humility and his close relationship with Pope Francis. All of us here at the Jesuit General Curia mourn him and a special Mass will be offered here in Rome as soon as we can organize it.”

Father Sosa said all who worked with Father Nicolás in the General Curia greatly appreciated his presence.