The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Owerri Archdiocese, His Grace, Anthony Obinna, has banned the lying in state of the dead. He said the dead should be carried from the mortuary straight to the Church for the funeral service.
He also banned funeral orations, the blaring of siren by the ambulance carrying the dead, the accompanying of the body by dancers, and condolence collection at the Service. However, not more than three minutes are allowed one member of the family to thank people in the Church.
Obinna, also, reduced the number of Priests at funeral services to a maximum of five, and the number of people at the Service to no more than 50. The Service should last for a maximum of 70 minutes only, and everybody must wear a face mask.
Obinna issued these guidelines to stem the spread of COVID-19. But some of the guidelines have not gone down well with Parishioners. “He has reduced the death of human beings to that of a fowl”, some fume.
“Why stop lying in state, and why stop funeral orations”, they ask. They also ask what the use of sirens by ambulances while carrying the dead has to do with the spread of COVID-19? They say the siren is not for show, but to clear the traffic, which, more often than not, is heavy. They do that to meet funeral time.
One angry Parishioner quipped ” He stopped condolence collection which goes to the family of the dead, but not collection at funeral services which goes to the Church.”
It is not known when the guidelines will be lifted, but they came at a time when the Imo State Government lifted the ban on funerals and weddings, but with limited number of people and with all COVID-19 protocols in place.
In another development, President Muhammadu Buhari will, this evening, address the Nation for the fourth time on COVID-19.
The decision was reached after he met, on Sunday, with members of the Presidential Task Force, PTF, for briefing. Speculations are that he may relax, a little more, the lock down placed across the country, especially, the ban placed on inter-state movements.
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