Clergy of St. John's Archdiocese no longer presiding at public funerals

There are changes to how some Roman Catholic funeral services are now taking place, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic clergy, for example, won't attend public funerals for the foreseeable future.

Archbishop Peter Hundt sent a letter Monday to the Archdiocese of St. John's outlining the new directives, to take further precautions against the spread of the coronavirus.

That archdiocese includes parishes in the greater St. John's area, the southern Avalon Peninsula, and the Burin Peninsula.

"Until future notice, due to the severe threat presented by the COVID-19 virus, the clergy of the Archdiocese are not to preside at funeral liturgies in our churches or in funeral homes," the letter reads.

Hundt's letter states that clergy are, for the time being, allowed to preside at graveside prayer services with the immediate family members of the deceased, while keeping within government regulations of gathering size and social distancing.

They are also encouraged to still be available by phone for grief and bereavement counselling, as well as to help mourners plan the celebrations of a person's life for a later date, when it's deemed safe.

"I realize that these are extraordinary measures, but given the present circumstances and concerns regarding the spreading of the coronavirus, they are measures that seem prudent and wise," Hundt wrote.

'Trying to accommodate people'

Father Paul Lundrigan is the parish priest of Holy Trinity, St. Agnes and St. Michael's churches, which covers the area of Pouch Cove to Torbay.

He is currently in self-isolation, after presiding over a funeral service at Caul's Funeral Home in St. John's on March 16.

He said the archbishop's letter was sent around the same time news broke that someone who was at the funeral home during that time had tested positive for coronavirus.

The funeral home has since been linked to 44 cases of COVID-19.

Lundrigan said funerals have become a difficult issue of public safety, since the province has placed a cap on gatherings of 10 people.

"How can you say to a family,'Choose the 10 closest people to this [deceased] person'?" he said.

"It's an awful thing to say to people. And even with 10 in the chapel if everybody's huddled together in the front, it is still a dangerous situation for the spread of disease."

Lundrigan said a couple of churches are looking into livestreams for funeral services.

"Family can be at home and watch a service with seven or eight immediate family in attendance, and then the rest can watch online, and then [they'll] have another celebration later," he explained.

While clergy will attend graveside if there's an immediate burial, Lundrigan said there's an advantage to cremations because it gives people more time to grieve.

"Some families like to bring the urn home with them to have the presence of that person with them. Others prefer to leave it at the funeral home and wait until they're all going to gather together. But they have the value of extra time to help them with that," he said.

"So we're hoping that we will be able to accommodate people and have true celebrations with all the family and all their friends when it's more conducive to good health to be able to do that."

Lundrigan said the archbishop's directives were necessary to deal with the current reality.

"We're in unprecedented times, and everyone is sort of flying by the seat of their pants. And every day, not just our provincial government, but governments around the world are coming out with new suggestions, new rules, new guidelines, new laws to help us to get through this," he said.

"This is just one of the ways that we're trying to help to accommodate people as best [as] we can."

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