funerals

Some people know instinctively how to help a grieving person. But for most of us, dealing with someone else’s grief is a little more uncomfortable.

“There is a sobering beauty to the funeral Mass and the ritual procession to the gravesite. There is a wisdom to gathering in the church hall for casseroles and remembrances.”

In addition to taking away those who, from our perspective, died before their time, said Father James Gardiner, the coronavirus changed the process of mourning and spiritual rituals that help with grief and healing, including for those whose loved ones have died from something other than COVID-19.

“Every 12 months or so, I’ll remind my wife that I would like the recessional at my funeral to be ‘Holy God, We Praise Thy Name.'”

The pandemic has changed how burials work in Colombia, the victims must be taken from the hospital to the cemetery in a closed casket, without their families allowed to see the body.

From weddings to baptisms to funerals, the coronavirus pandemic and the social distancing precautions that go with it have thrown solemn and celebratory Catholic services into disarray.

John Delendick, a longtime New York Fire Department chaplain, still recalls the 9/11 terrorist attacks vividly. That first year after the attacks, he said, he doesn’t remember how many funerals and memorial Masses he celebrated.

Immediate makeshift memorials in Las Vegas to the 58 victims killed during the Oct. 1 outdoor country music concert are being replaced by memorial services, vigils and Catholic funerals at the victims’ hometowns across the country and in Canada.