Churches impose severe restrictions on funeral services

SOME churches in Northern Ireland are to restrict funeral services in a bid to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Churches and other places of worship have been closed for all services and all events, excluding funerals, after Prime Minister Boris Johnson put the UK on lockdown on Monday.

Catholic Bishop Noel Treanor has said the Diocese of Down and Connor would no longer hold funeral services inside churches.

He announced the closure of all churches until further notice.

He said the deceased will be taken directly to the cemetery for burial where a short funeral prayer service will be held — with social distancing — by the graveside and Requiem Mass held at a date in the future when gatherings were permitted again.

He said they would honour any existing arrangements already in place.

The Catholic Church in Ireland said the matter was for each diocese to make. Yesterday, each diocese was issued with a set of directives advising baptisms and weddings should be kept to a minimum. They were also told: There will be no wakes in the house.

Priests not required to lead prayers in home of the deceased. Instead the family can pray the Rosary and can be given other prayers to say in the home.

There will be no sympathising or physical contact with the bereaved at any stage.

There will be no Removal to the Church on the evening before the burial.

All funerals will be private, with just the immediate family

lllllbeing present and no more than 20 people, well-spaced apart, in the church for the funeral Mass.

Funeral Mass to be simple, with none of the normal participation of the laity in the liturgy. If Holy Communion is distributed at the funeral Mass it must be done in a safe manner.

At the graveside it is important that the social distancing rule is adhered to.

Arrangements can be made to have the equivalent of a Month’s Memory Mass for the deceased person to take place when restrictions are lifted, so that the family and community can then

lllgather to pray for the deceased and pay their respects.

Priests were told: “These regulations mean that the grieving family do not have the normal comfort and support of friends and neighbours to carry them through the difficult days of the death and burial of a loved ones.

“Because of this our priestly pastoral role takes on a new significance and we must be extra sensitive in the way we relate to the bereaved family.”

The Methodist Church said its funerals will be restricted to just small graveside gatherings with services postponed.

The Presbyterian Church has already discouraged the announcement of funeral details to prevent crowds gathering and advised against holding services in homes.

Funeral services, if held in churches, should follow social distancing rules and be limited to 10 people plus one officiant.

The Church of Ireland said advice to clergy was for steps to be taken to ensure that numbers attending funeral services are kept as low as possible, and consideration should be given to all funerals being private with no public announcement of arrangements.