Friend of the Young

The following is an article that was e-mailed to me by the alumni office of St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland, Ohio. I think it shows a positive view of what students are doing during Holy Week to remember the dead and serve Christ in all they do.

As we celebrate holy week in preparation of Jesus' death and resurrection at Easter, the Saint Ignatius community will gather together with the pallbearers of the St. Joseph of Arimathea Society the morning of Holy Thursday at Potter's Field to pray for the souls of the indigent, alone, and unwanted who are buried in unmarked graves.

Keith Mokris '04, a Jesuit volunteer at Saint Ignatius, took the photographs below at a recent funeral where student pallbearers laid to rest a woman who was the last living member of her family. They prayed over her and took her to her final resting place.



Six members of the St. Joseph of Arimathea Pallbearer

Ministry attended the funeral Mass of Helen, who died

at the age of 88. She had outlived her family and friends.

Fifteen people attended one organ player and one friend,

two funeral directors, four nuns and six pallbearers from Saint Ignatius

Helen's funeral, including the priest,





The funeral procession included the hearse, a single car and a Saint Ignatius school van. Helen's casket was simple with no flowers to honor her.
At the time of her burial, ten gathered to pray, including the six student pallbearers.