CCAirwaves

Arimathea Pallbearer Ministry

• The Catholic Cemeteries Association

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In our latest episode of CCAirwaves,  we engage in a fascinating conversation with Joe Mulholland, a theology teacher at Saint Ignatius High School and the guiding force behind the Arimathea Pallbearer Ministry. This remarkable ministry is a testament to the power of service. With over 200 students willingly serving as pallbearers at local funerals, they provide a ray of hope and comfort in times of grief and loss. As the seventh corporal work of mercy, the act of burying the dead holds great significance, and Joe shares how this ministry has become an integral part of the school's culture. 

In a world where high school narratives often revolve around career goals and academic achievements, the Arimathea Pallbearer Ministry has managed to carve out its unique story. 


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Speaker 1:

Hello everyone and welcome back to CC Airwaves. My name is Paige Mattello and I'm here with my co-host, Joel Hansel.

Speaker 2:

How are you doing today Paige?

Speaker 1:

I'm doing great and I'm very excited because we have a guest with us in the studio. His name is Joe Mulholland. How are you doing?

Speaker 3:

I'm doing well. Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1:

So why don't you tell our viewers a little bit about yourself?

Speaker 3:

Sure. So I am a high school theology teacher at St Ignatius High School in Cleveland And I am the moderator of a Christian service club that we do, the St Joseph Eremythia Paul Bearer Ministry, which provides student Paul bears. So just our high school students. We send them out to funerals of people who just don't have anyone available to serve as Paul bearers. So we serve as Paul bearers and attend all the services and pray for this person just at their funeral. So when I actually am a graduate of St Ignatius and so when I was a student there, i was part of it as a student I just found it very moving And I became a theology teacher and I was asked to start the same ministry at a previous high school that knew about the work at Ignatius, and so when I came back to Ignatius to teach my alma mater it was kind of very fortuitous. There was sort of an opening in the ministry to sort of lead that I've been involved in. So you're happy to talk about the work here today.

Speaker 1:

We're excited to hear about it. So can you tell us kind of how this ministry started?

Speaker 3:

Yeah for sure. So this really comes totally out of the mind of a previous theology teacher at Ignatius. He was a beloved teacher. His name was Jim Skurl And he just started a lot of Christian service ministries at the school. Almost all of them can sort of trace their beginnings back to him. He's just passed away But in 2003,. What he was doing is he was looking at the corporal works of mercy. So this is the sort of list of sort of seven sort of tasks that sort of the church asked sort of Christians to partake in, sort of live a life of mercy, And they come from the scripture verse Matthew 25, you know, it's sort of feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the naked, visit the imprisoned.

Speaker 1:

All those, Yeah, all those right.

Speaker 3:

And so he took those very, very literally. He said are we actually doing those things? And so he was actually able to sort of point to the different ministries of the school and say, yep, we're. You know, we have this homeless ministry, we're actually feeding the hungry, we're literally doing that.

Speaker 3:

The seventh one, though, is a little tricky. The seventh one is buried the dead. And so he's like, okay, well, we're not doing that, how on earth can we possibly do that? And so then he just got the idea, thinking about this Oh well, maybe we could be pallbearers for people who need pallbearers. And he called up some local funeral homes and asked if this was a service that they might be interested in, and the response was resounding Yes. And so in doing this, he actually sort of uncovered, i think, what was maybe kind of an unknown need, because, yeah, there were. There were all these people that just didn't have people to be pallbearers at their funeral. And so the ministry kind of exploded pretty quickly. The maybe the first year they did just a couple, two or three, but within a few years, five, 10 years, all of a sudden we're doing in the hundreds every year.

Speaker 2:

Oh, wow.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so several a week. So this has really turned out to be a service to funeral homes around really kind of appreciated and needed, so yeah.

Speaker 1:

So I know it's summer right now. Do you guys do that in the summer as well? Or is it because the students are out of school? you just put this service on hold?

Speaker 3:

We do it year round, yeah, we do it year round. Yeah, we make sure to give the guys that come out in the summer, you know, an extra no-transcript.

Speaker 2:

And how many young men are currently involved with the Air Mathias Society?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so we've got about a little over 200. So technically, it's our biggest extracurricular at the school. So there's, there's, it's really been good, it's become really part of the culture. So, guys, we don't, we don't take an underclassment. You got to be a junior above just because of the sort of certain level of maturity required for this. But there's really sort of an expectation, right Like that. Once you, once you get junior year, a lot of guys is like okay, so when I can start Paul Bear, you know being a Paul Bear, so yeah, That's wonderful.

Speaker 1:

Um, how do the funeral, so the funeral homes, contact you in order to kind of set that up.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, we're lucky, we have a pretty good relationship with most of it, almost all of the area of funeral homes. They know us at this point because we've now we've been doing it for about 20 years. Um, so, yeah, they just they're. We have a whole system. They give us, there's a phone line, they call and you know, give us the details, and we sit all up all the logistics. So there there is a, there is sort of a team, i'm sort of the the moderator, but, um, i mean, really the heavy lifting is done by the students who actually go on these funerals And we also have a team of drivers just in the community. Um, since, you know, just, you know, i'm I'm teaching all day, so I can't, i don't, i don't go on very many.

Speaker 1:

Frankly, Yeah, but you used to because you said that you were part of it when you were a student.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, i used to, right, yeah, and I also handle we have some student leaders who, um, this is their job to find the uh, find the actual Paul Bear. So they go out and sort of recruit guys. And I had to handle some information with them and things like that, yeah.

Speaker 1:

So what was your experience like when you were part of this, or when you know where you were a student? that was part of this, yeah.

Speaker 3:

I mean I just found it really moving. Um, there was just I think you're probably familiar too with with your work Uh, there was just uh, working around sort of death and funerals, I don't know. I found it just fostered sort of a peacefulness in me, just a certain perspective about, like I don't know, the little anxieties and worries in life. Just, you might kind of remember the bigger picture, you know, um, this is just a small part of our stories, Um, and then really, where we can look forward to this joyous homecoming, That's the end of the story. Um, so it helped me put things in perspective. And the and the funerals that we serve, usually there's, there's usually a few family members, Um, and just to see their sort of gratitude, um, and not for really anything.

Speaker 3:

We say, um, it's really just about we call ourselves a ministry of prayer and presence. So I tell cause, i tell the kids, you know it's like, look, a lot of a lot of funerals you might not actually be carrying the casket that far, you know you're good because we, you know you have the, you know the cart, the beer, um, that uh is is the casket rest on most of the funeral and maybe you'll carry the casket really only maybe 10 feet from the hearse to the, to the um, um, to the, uh, the grape side, um. So there's sometimes there's a temptation to feel like, oh yeah, this was like I just spent three hours of my day to do, like, carry this casket 10 feet, like this was someone else could have done this, um. But I always thought I'm like, look, don't fall into that temptation.

Speaker 3:

This is not about sort of, we don't call ourselves a ministry of like brawn and strength, where it's prayer and present. It's about just being there, um, it's, it's a privilege. I would say it's a privilege to be able to be at this person's funeral Well, maybe you didn't know, um, but to just sort of mourn their loss, celebrate their, their homecoming, um, and that's really what it is. It's just sort of being there.

Speaker 2:

How many um funerals do you think? on average you do per week.

Speaker 3:

Um, it's usually between two and four a week. Okay, is it normal? Yeah, so.

Speaker 2:

And out of the 200, how do you choose who gets to go and be the Paul bearer for those two or three or four during the week?

Speaker 3:

Uh, yeah, So that's that's where my student leaders come in, Um, so we have about a dozen or guys who um have to go out and make sure those seniors are stabbed. So they have a lot of responsibility, because if they don't, if they don't do their job, then all of a sudden we look pretty bad. I mean, we don't survive the ball of yours. We promise this funeral home And so, uh, that's really on them. Sometimes I'm not going to lie sometimes it can be hard in the summer. Uh, they make a lot of phone calls, They get a lot of no's, Um, so, uh, they uh, they badger their friends, uh, and they just they keep persisting until they get the six guys to say yes, Um, so yeah.

Speaker 2:

And six is the number that that go.

Speaker 3:

That's pretty standard. Yeah, um, sometimes there's more, more or less um that are asked. We, i think our record we one time this was a movie a year ago we, the funeral home, requested 14 pull bearers. So for Wow, yeah, yeah, i mean so six is kind of our standard in some time. Got it Beforeteen, wow.

Speaker 1:

More than double the number you usually send.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, the obituary says his family was the owner of a Greek restaurant.

Speaker 1:

Oh, can you share one of your most memorable experiences, either as a student or faculty as part of the Arimathea ministry?

Speaker 3:

Yeah, i remember I was an adult chaperon on one, and so at the end of the funeral home this is again this is very much a community effort. So one of the things that happens to is the Jesuit community of priests at our school they always say amass at some point in memory of each person that we sort of bury, and so we put that little card just to let the family know that that's happening and just a condolence card, and so at the end of the funeral we give the card to them. We always have a student do it, and so I remember this student sort of was doing it And again he was very nervous. And so it is kind of interesting to see the students on these things, because a lot of them haven't been to funerals And it's just as many people are. They're just very uncomfortable about the whole thing And the fact that they don't know this person at all sort of just adds to it.

Speaker 3:

So this kid again didn't really. He just felt uncomfortable about the whole thing, didn't know what to say. So he kind of approached the family and sort of just kind of offers the card, stumbles over some words, and the older woman who sort of received it just kind of just from a big bear hug And just like it was kind of a long bear hug. So he came back and he was kind of like teary eyed And he's just like I don't even know what to say. And it was again. It was just a reminder, like it's not about the words, it's just about you being here, it's just about your presence, yeah.

Speaker 3:

And so I could tell that kind of left an impression on him. So I don't know, I think that probably yeah.

Speaker 1:

I'm sure it did And I'm sure lots of students have those experiences And that's probably why you have so many volunteers and so many students wanting to join every year, because they probably hear it from the upperclassmen about how life changing the experience is for them and how it kind of maybe changed their perspective.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, I really hope that's the case. Yeah, I think so.

Speaker 1:

Oh, I thought you were going to.

Speaker 3:

See, that's what I'm talking about.

Speaker 2:

Edit and post, edit and post.

Speaker 1:

All right, I can go. I have another question. So what obstacles have you guys faced with this ministry?

Speaker 2:

Besides summer vacation.

Speaker 1:

Yes, besides summer vacation.

Speaker 3:

You know, not too many come to mind. I think in a way it's a testament to sort of just, i think, the obvious value of it. I mean, so we do serve funerals during the week, most of our funerals during the week, during the school day. So this kind of required, a lot of this had to be OK'd by a lot of different sort of entities. Like these kids are going to miss most of the school day to go do this And so, but every person and organization involved was just so ready, like, yes, this is a valuable thing to do, like this is worth whatever they're missing. So, yeah, we are just been very fortunate that really there hasn't been that many obstacles.

Speaker 1:

It's wonderful that the school supports you so much Oh for sure yeah.

Speaker 2:

So when they are asked to be pallbearers, does that include like being pallbearer at the funeral mass?

Speaker 3:

So we do. We do tell the funeral home that we like to come to as much of the service as we can or as is happening. So if there's funeral homes, if there's prayers to funeral home, we'd like to go to those, then the mass and then typically the cemetery. So we typically go to those three things if they're all happening. So yeah, Sure, sure.

Speaker 2:

Well, i guess in a way that only makes sense because you're serving families that are older. They might not be very large families, maybe a lot of the family has moved out of the state can't get in. So yeah, i mean, you do see, especially like at a cemetery here at Calvary, because we get a lot of these burials of older families are being buried with other family members and they don't really have a lot of family. So you might see three cars in the procession, right, so there's not really a lot of a lot of people there to say the say the prayers, pay the final respect. So I'm sure the presence of the young men is most appreciated by those families in particular.

Speaker 1:

I read on your guys' website that you do something twice a year for the homeless community.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, so we have this prayer service at Pottersfield.

Speaker 3:

That is it, Yeah on the east side of Cleveland, there, which is sort of just a burial for people without means, right.

Speaker 3:

So when, basically, when I mean you might know more about this than I do, frankly, how this all works, but you know, when the sort of the city of Cleveland sort of sort of comes into possession of a, you know, a person who's passed away and the person sort of isn't claimed and maybe there's, you know, they don't come from means, they'll be sort of buried in this place, Pottersfield, and so I understand it's sort of an active cemetery And if you just go there it just appears to be just a regular sort of green grass field, when in reality there's actually over 19,000 people buried there and marked graves, and so it just very much in the spirit of our ministry.

Speaker 3:

It just again this was something that again the person who founded Jim's Curls is something he conceived of sort of right off the bat He said no, i mean we should. This is so we as a ministry because again there are about a couple hundred kids in this we there's really never a point where we all gather together, except when we ask guys to come to these, these prayer services. So we'll gather in Pottersfield. We come, we typically go all souls day, the appropriate time, liturgical calendar, and we just pray for those people buried there. We pray for the people we have helped bury And we just kind of remember them and pray for them And sort of just be with them at their, in their sort of these unmarked cemetery.

Speaker 1:

That's really wonderful.

Speaker 2:

Are there any future plans for the Air Mathias Society, any plans on maybe expanding the program or improving services?

Speaker 3:

Armin, so it's expanded. In that we're very grateful. So lots of other sort of schools have sort of taken up the model and started that. I think that the article that you mentioned named a number which was actually more than I had realized And I didn't realize there were also all girls schools who picked up the ministry, which I think is awesome. That's fantastic.

Speaker 3:

Yeah for sure. So as far as our ministry in particular, i think we pretty much got the model down pretty good between just the service, because one of the reasons I don't want to sort of like overwhelm the kids like they've agreed to do this. most of them serve about three or four a year so they can do other things. But I mean, we're looking at things like maybe like getting involved in sort of other sort of cemetery, you know service and things like that.

Speaker 1:

So yeah, This is a question for Joel. Joel, do you know if we've ever used their services before at the cemeteries?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I've seen them here. Usually they're in the van the St E G. Hitches High School van. I've seen it come through here this cemetery a few times.

Speaker 1:

That's so interesting. I'll have to keep an eye out.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, no, we've definitely come to Calvary. Yeah, that's not infrequently.

Speaker 1:

All right. Well, is there anything else that you would like to share about the Arimathea Paul Barrow ministry or St Ignatius in general?

Speaker 3:

I think I just want to add, i just want to make one connection, i think, to our school's mission, because that's really in some ways where this has come out of. So our motto of our school and sort of what we're trying to do is to create men for others, and so, like the name of our ministry directly comes from, I think, that sort of that goal. So Joseph Arimathea, so he's the person that sort of took possession of Jesus' body after he died and sort of laid in his tomb. So we named our ministry after the person who sort of you know, took responsibility for Jesus' body. So the idea and again we talked about the Cropal Miracle of Mercy in Matthew 25.

Speaker 3:

And so the other sort of the punchline of that whole scripture Matthew 25, is what you do for the least of these is what you do to me. It's what Jesus says, right. So we really do think of this as a ministry, a way of serving Christ directly. So in serving these people you know who may have been sort of forgotten or you know sort of outcast, right, we really see ourselves as serving, you know, carrying the body of Christ, right, what you do for the least of these, what you do for me. So I think that's just an important point I think to make. This is really where the spirit of this ministry comes from.

Speaker 2:

And really the whole spirit behind Catholic cemeteries in general, the fact that you know we are emulating Christ, who died, was buried and then rose again. That's our hope. We're going to die, we should be buried And we will rise again. So, yeah, it definitely fits in with Joseph there, aaron with the cemeteries, their ministry with the Paul Bears.

Speaker 1:

All right. Well, thank you, joe, so much for joining us. We really appreciate you coming out to our podcast studio and sitting down and telling us a little bit more about the air. Matthew Paul Bear ministry.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, thanks so much for having me. I'm just very happy to share this good work.

Speaker 1:

Well, that is all we have for you today. Thank you so much for listening to CC Airwaves. We will see you next Thursday for a new episode.

Speaker 2:

Until then, take care everyone.