Good morning,
I hope everyone is being safe and staying inside for the most part. I realize how hard it is to stay inside the whole time. We do need to get grocery’s and prescriptions.
For me, this has been a bit trying. I am not allowed to go to the seniors home and do my volunteering. My volunteering has now been writing letters and making cards for the residents. I would rather this, than getting them ill.
For Hospice Huronia, I am talking to my clients either by facetime or by phone. So this is all new for us and we do what we need to do. It does give us time to do other things, such as spring cleaning, crafts, reading or just watching tv.
The changes that have been made just recently has affected my ministry greatly. As a Wedding Officiant, do I do weddings or don’t I? You can only have 2 witnesses and the couple plus me, the Officiant. Which is fine, however, the Officiant and Witnesses must be 6 feet apart from the couple.
Many Officiants won’t do weddings for fear of contracting COVID-19. Our church says we can do it, if we feel comfortable. So what does this mean for funerals. Well, Doug Ford has now stated funerals can have no more than 10 people.
This is going to be very difficult for grieving families. How do you pick and choose who comes to a funeral. How do you tell people they can’t come and say goodbye to a loved one. Again, this is extraordinary times and we have never seen something like this at least in my lifetime.
So it seems only immediate family will be allowed. I would say that children not be allowed to attend, like at the weddings. As a daughter this hurts me, I am not sure who I would have been able to do this when my mother passed away. However, as part of being a clergy member, safety is first to everyone involved.
I am going to be contacting funeral homes to offer my services again, as I suspect Clergy will get exhausted with this pandemic. Please contact me if you would like me to do your loved ones service.
Blessings and stay safe.
Rev. Lorie
