Amid Coronavirus Pandemic, Families Forced To Forego Funerals For Loved Ones Who Recently Died
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Mourning the loss of a loved one during the coronavirus pandemic has created tough decisions for families across the country.
Funeral homes are not only anticipating unprecedented need, but they're also having to change how they comfort and console those who are grieving.
The staff across New Cathedral's 125 acres remain at work keeping the grounds maintained even as the number of services slow.
"People are kind of being robbed at this particular moment of having family and friends around them at a time they need family and friends the most," Father Patrick Carrion said.
Father Carrion directs cemetery management at the Baltimore Archdiocese where funeral masses have stopped, but graveside services continue, limited to 10 people.
"Probably the most difficult is which 10," Father Carrion said.
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Cemetery director Nathan Nardi said they've had to make changes.
"We're finding ourselves having to step back and keep our distance," Nardi said. "And that's difficult for us as much as it is our families."
They've limited touchpoints, no more chairs or tent tables.
"They may be burying the dead person, but they can't have the funeral mass or the kind of ritual they wanted," Father Carrion said.
With more people choosing cremation, it lends itself flexibility on pushing back a service.
"Folks are choosing to delay those services until when they can have their entire family gather," Nardi said.
Father Carrion, meanwhile, is just months removed from mourning another Father Carrion. His brother Michael, also a priest, died in November shortly after a cemetery service.
"I can't imagine burying him with only myself, my brother Timothy and a few people. That would've added to the pain tremendously," Father Carrion said.
"We can't stop doing the corporate works of mercy, burying the dead. We just have to do it a different way for now," Father Carrion added.
For the latest information on coronavirus go to the Maryland Health Department's website or call 211. You can find all of WJZ's coverage on coronavirus in Maryland here.
