Youngstown Catholic bishop decrees that calling hours won't be permitted in churches

YOUNGSTOWN − The Catholic Diocese of Youngstown will prohibit calling hours on church properties beginning Dec. 1, with Bishop David Bonnar saying churches are “sacred buildings intended for divine worship and not to serve as spaces for funeral visitations.”

The bishop met with funeral directors, the Diocesan Presbyteral Council and county deans over the past year in hopes of establishing a uniform policy for funeral visitations. With their unanimous support, it was decided that such visitations will no longer be permitted in any church building or facility.

Bonnar, who issued a decree on Oct. 27, said the new policy follows the church’s “Order of Christian Funerals” guidelines.

While there is no universal policy in Catholicism concerning calling hours, bishops have the discretion of establishing certain rules for their dioceses. For example, the Catholic Diocese of Cleveland said it “allows visitation in church facilities where it can be accommodated at the discretion of the pastor, and has no current plans to change this practice.”

The Youngstown diocese covers six counties — Ashtabula, Columbiana, Mahoning, Portage, Stark and Trumbull — and serves more than 117,000 Catholics.

Why is the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown ending calling hours at churches?

Bonnar’s decree also expressed concern that “… the sacred space is compromised by noise and activity unbecoming of the reverence due to the Blessed Sacrament.”

The first part of a funeral liturgy is the vigil, or prayers to be prayed during the visitation, which is followed by transferring the body to the church and then the cemetery.

Bonnar wrote that “the ritual does not envision a viewing in the church building. The church building is where the community gathers to hear the Word of God, to pray together, receive the sacraments and to celebrate the Eucharist. The church building is both the house of God on earth and a house fit for prayer. Churches are sacred buildings intended for divine worship and not to serve as spaces for funeral visitations.”

Bonnar added that while he understands the decree may cause some distress, it’s his responsibility “as the diocesan bishop to avoid any semblance of disconnect between a trend and the parameters established by the Order of Christian Funerals.”

Eugene “Trey” Wackerly, owner of the Wackerly Funeral Home in Canton and a member of the Diocesan Cemetery Board, estimated that 40% of Catholic funerals he handles have had calling hours in churches.

“I was told that the reason the decision was made by the diocese was for the purpose of consistency for all the churches,” Wackerly said. “I respect both sides’ opinion on this, the grieving families and the diocese, but the decision was made, and we as Catholics have to adjust to it.”

Diocesan spokesman Dennis Biviano said post-funeral lunches and receptions will be permitted in parish social halls.

To read the full message from Bonnar, go to: https://tinyurl.com/4b7e9zan.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Youngstown Catholic bishop decrees that calling hours won’t be permitted in churches

Reporting by Charita M. Goshay, Canton Repository / The Repository

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