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Clogher excuses priests over 70 from 'frontline ministry' and becomes latest to end funeral Mass

Bishop of Clogher Larry Duffy has announced that funeral Mass is being suspended in the cross-border diocese
Bishop of Clogher Larry Duffy has announced that funeral Mass is being suspended in the cross-border diocese Bishop of Clogher Larry Duffy has announced that funeral Mass is being suspended in the cross-border diocese

THE Diocese of Clogher has become the latest in the Catholic Church to end funeral Mass because the coronavirus pandemic means "our fate and the fate of others is in our own hands".

The body of the deceased will instead be brought directly to the place of burial where, Bishop Larry Duffy said, the rite of committal or burial will be led by a priest, deacon or, "if necessary", a layperson.

Dr Duffy said he had no other option but to implement the changes in the cross-border diocese "to protect the lives, health and wellbeing of all".

"When I was appointed bishop just over a year ago, I could never have imagined I would have to take such radical actions and to have to take them so swiftly," he said.

"But we all have to make sacrifices for the common good because we have a responsibility to each other.

"Truthfully, our fate and the fate of others is in our own hands."

In a further move emphasising the extent to which coronavirus has transformed Church life in Ireland in a few short weeks, Dr Duffy said that priests aged 70 or over and those with underlying health conditions would no longer be expected to take part in "frontline pastoral ministry".

Nor will priests in Clogher any longer make house calls. Hospital visits will now only be conducted by full-time chaplains and "subject to the regulation of hospital management".

Down and Connor was the first diocese to suspend funeral Mass because of Covid-19, with Bishop Noel Treanor announcing his decision last week.

It seems inevitable that other Catholic dioceses will follow as the public health crisis continues, with Churches keeping the situation under daily review.

The Methodist Church has already said that funerals should not be conducted in its church buildings or in the home of the deceased.

Church of Ireland and Presbyterian funerals may, for now, still be conducted in church buildings as long as government regulations and social distancing measures were followed.

However, a Presbyterian spokesman said "where at all possible, funeral services should be limited to graveside committals only".

Church of Ireland clergy have been advised "that steps should be taken to ensure that numbers attending funeral services are kept as low as possible, and that consideration should be given to all funerals being private with no public announcement of the funeral arrangements".