Volunteers bring prayers, concern to funerals of Louisville's poor

Published: 2006-04-18

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (CNS) -- Bordered by black hills of sludge, railroad tracks and a power station, River Valley Cemetery sets a dismal scene for the burials of Louisville's poorest citizens. Only a handful of permanent headstones stand in the dirt-pocked grass field. Many of the ground-level grave markers -- only inches long and made of metal and plastic -- have been mangled and moved by mowing equipment. The scene was worse a couple of years ago when indigent men, women and children were laid to rest in particleboard caskets without a witness or word of prayer. The particleboard boxes are still used -- and they still collapse when the backhoe piles on damp earth -- but now, thanks to the Jefferson County Coroner's office and volunteers from Epiphany Catholic Church in Louisville, each burial includes at least one witness, a bouquet of flowers and a prayer. And students from St. Xavier High School are poised to brighten the scene further, volunteering as pallbearers for the 100 or so 15-minute paupers' funerals held at River Valley each year.

Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .