Grieving families in County Armagh have been asked to forgo lengthy funeral processions to the graveyard due to the high workload on an ever diminishing number of priests.
The parishes of St Peter’s and St Paul’s have warned that priests in the area do not have enough time to accompany mourners on the walk to the graveyard.
In a letter to parishioners, the Irish News reported that one priest wrote, “Given the multitude of other things that we have to do, then if the family chooses to walk to the cemetery there is a strong possibility that there may not be a priest or deacon available for the burial”.
On The Hard Shoulder, Fr Iggy O’Donovan said in his experience, people still believe that priests do a good job when it comes to funerals.
“For the church in Ireland, which is so sick and rusty at the moment in so many ways,” he said.
“Actually one of the areas where they’re doing fairly well is in the area of funerals.
“Of all the criticism I’ve heard of the church - and God knows, most of them are more than justified - they are rarely about funerals.
“Generally, there’s a high level of satisfaction.”
A coffin in a church. Picture by: Alamy.com. Fr O’Donovan added that for him personally, his “bottom line” will always be “to go along with” what the family wants.
“I will go to almost any lengths to accommodate them,” he said.
“If something like walking to the cemetery [helps, I’ll do it], God knows half of us priests now aren’t able to walk anywhere.
“The main thing is to accommodate them.”
He concluded that “the very least we can do is be flexible”.
Sign of the times
Also on the programme, McGowan’s Funeral Home CEO Dave McGowan said “every parish in rural Ireland” is now experiencing that shortage.
“On the other side of it, there’s more lay people getting involved in church services and rituals,” he explained.
“In Sligo, they’ve lay people coming out and doing the cemetery, stuff like that - including women.”
Main image: A funeral procession in rural Ireland. Picture by: Alamy.com.
