There’s one thing you can’t stop people from doing during an epidemic: dying.

“We have to bury the dead,” said the Rev. Douglas Vu, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Barnabas churches in Birmingham. “Clergy have a duty to pray with family.”

So far there have been no deaths reported in Alabama due to the coronavirus, but deaths are still a part of everyday life.

Funerals must go on, but they’re getting smaller, clergy and funeral home directors say.

“It would be very hard to not have a funeral in some fashion,” said the Rev. Ed Hurley, pastor of South Highland Presbyterian Church. “You could do a private gathering of family.”

Vu said restricting the size of gatherings remains paramount for preventing the spread of COVID-19, the novel coronavirus.

“I’d just tell the family, gather with immediate family members,” Vu said. “Lay them to rest, then have a memorial Mass at a later date. That seems to be a sensible thing.”

Archbishop Thomas Rodi of Mobile expressly forbade funeral Mass right now in the southern half of the state.

“Funerals, with or without Mass, will not be celebrated in churches or in any other location,” he wrote in a directive this week. “Only graveside services are permitted.”

Bishop Robert Baker, head of the Catholic Diocese of Birmingham, said there could only be outdoor graveyard services in a directive that applies to north and central Alabama.

“Funerals may be celebrated only with an outdoor graveside ceremony; a memorial Mass in a church or chapel may be scheduled once these circumstances have been lifted,” Baker wrote.

“People are trying to cooperate with us and limit the number of people that come in,” said Eddie Seal, general manager of Jefferson Memorial Funeral Home and Gardens in Trussville. “We will enforce it to make sure we do not get big crowds in here.”

The 300-seat chapel is limited to 10 people at a time, he said.

“Most people will sign the book, see the family, and they’re back out the door,” Seal said. “We will advise the family stand six feet apart. It’s hard to make people do that.”

When public figures die, it’s hard for funeral home directors to convince family that a large funeral cannot be held.

“The family is wanting to have a larger service,” said Brian Sims, funeral director and owner of Zion Memorial Funeral Home of Sylacauga.

“It’s all new to us,” Sims said. “We’ve never seen anything like this in the industry.”

He said funeral homes need to abide by governmental guidelines against gatherings of more than 10.

“We’re trying to go by what CDC and everyone else is trying to get us to abide by,” Sims said.

As part of the Alabama Department of Public Health recommendations, that agency says “participants in religious services or events, weddings, funerals and family events” should maintain a consistent six-foot distance between participants if possible.

“We’re worried about the health of our staff and the people who are going to be attending services," Sims said. "We want people to get a better idea how serious this is.”

In a time of grief, it’s hard to break that news to family of the deceased.

“They want to see their loved one,” Sims said. “It’s really challenging, but it’s to the public’s best interest if we don’t have large congregated services right now.”

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