Dignity in Death: Catholic High Schoolers Bury the Dead
Many Catholics are familiar with the corporal works of mercy; a plethora of ministries serve the basic needs of our fellow men and women, especially clothing the naked and feeding the hungry. But one way of meeting the material needs of the less fortunate tends to be forgotten in our time: burying the dead.
In 2003, one theology teacher at St. Ignatius Catholic High School in Cleveland decided to change that. “He just took the corporal works of mercy very, very seriously,” said Joe Mulholland, also a theology teacher at St. Ignatius, of Jim Skerl, the founder of the school’s St. Joseph of Arimathea Pallbearer Ministry. “He viewed them as a checklist: Are we actually doing these seven things?”
Skerl, who also founded the school’s St. Benedict Joseph Labre Ministry to the Homeless, passed away in 2014, but his legacy lives on: The pallbearer ministry at St. Ignatius serves at about 250 funerals per year, totaling more than 1,600 to date. What is more, the ministry has spread to more than 10 high schools in the area and further into the Midwest, offering pallbearer services, prayer and companionship to the indigent and lonely who pass away.
What Pallbearer Ministries Do
Usually dubbed “St. Joseph of Arimathea Societies” in honor of the saint who donated his burial ground for Jesus’ Body, pallbearer ministries like the one at St. Ignatius have gained momentum since 2003, especially at boys’ high schools in the Midwest and South. Ben Kresse, a theology teacher at St. Xavier High School in Louisville, Kentucky, and a leader of the campus- ministry team, shared with the Register that he was inspired to start the ministry at St. Xavier after hearing a NPR story about St. Ignatius’ ministry.
But the seed had been sown even earlier in his career: When Kresse was serving as a youth minister, he attended church with the Bluegrass State’s Jefferson County coroner, who shared with him the process for “indigent burials,” burials for those without family or the means to cover funeral expenses.
“He said, ‘We really don’t have any service for them; we might pray the Our Father, then we bury them,’” said Kresse. “And he said something that struck me: ‘Everybody comes into the world being held, and they should leave being held, and nobody holds these people.’”
Now, they do. The St. Joseph of Arimathea Society at St. Xavier High School has participated in more than 2,000 burial services. While some St. Joseph of Arimathea Societies simply serve as pallbearers when families do not have anyone young or healthy enough to carry a casket, St. Xavier’s society goes the extra mile, offering a prayer service that they composed for these ceremonies. The prayer service incorporates Gospel and other Scripture readings and invites faculty, student and family participation.
