Am I going off the reservation?

The priest said it would be a short service because he wanted to make an important announcement.

After rushing through the Mass so quickly he missed out most of the good bits, he solemnly declared the following: he urgently needed volunteers to say prayers over the bodies.

The number of funerals in this small corner of West Cork has now got to the point where one priest cannot handle the arrival of the coffins at the funeral home opposite the church, where, in Irish tradition, the business of praying begins.

He said they also needed volunteers to do the same in the next village. He sounded like he was at his wits’ end. He said that if no one came forward he would take suggestions for people who would be good at it, then approach them himself to talk them into it.