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CovCath students are stand-in pallbearers
Written by Chris Mayhew
Sep. 16, 2013 2:03 PM | cincinnati.com
PARK HILLS — When the county is paying for a burial and no family is around to carry the casket,
Covington Catholic High School students step in as pallbearers.
Senior Mark Schult of Edgewood is one of about 30 students signed up to carry a casket and help say a
prayer when needed.
Schult said service is a big part of what Covington Catholic students do, but the pallbearer program is
something the community needs. Helping people is just the right thing to do, he said.
“For someone who died without friends or family it’s nice to have someone there just thinking of you and
praying for you,” Schult said.
Having students serve as pallbearers became part of the CovCath service program last year after a
conversation with funeral director and Park Hills Mayor Don Catchen, said Bill Snyder, community service
coordinator for the school.
Snyder said he told Catchen the school wanted to help with indigent burials as part of the Catholic
organization The St. Joseph of Arimathea Society.
Besides carrying a casket, the students participate in a non-denomination prayer at the grave site, he
said.
Students are sent in teams of seven, with one reading a prayer, and six pallbearers, Snyder said.
There was no problem getting students to sign up to be part of the service program, and now there are
two full teams, he said.
“I made one announcement and had 30 boys sign up for this,” Snyder said.
So far, the students have participated in two burial services, but funeral directors are only now being told
about their availability to help with services, he said.
The teams will typically work in Northern Kentucky, and have to make the burial team a top priority outside
of classes, Snyder said. Teams are named blue and white for the school’s colors. The student captain for
each team takes the responsibility for calling other members to help with a burial ceremony, he said.
If the team gets a phone call for a Saturday morning burial before a football game and a player is on the
pallbearer team they make a commitment to go to the cemetery first, Snyder said.
“Then they can go to the game afterward,” he said.
Catchen said he handles all indigent burial cases in Kenton County, and when he heard Snyder’s offer to
have students help with burials he thought it was a great idea.
“Bill said we’ll send young guys up to be pallbearers as a civic duty and curricular activity for the school,”
Catchen said.
Seeing and being part of a funeral helps teach the students, and they gain service hours, he said.
“It’s a great gesture on their part to be involved and it’s good for them,” Catchen said.
There are very few indigent burials, so the student’s probably won’t be called on very often, he said.
“The only time we do burials is if there is no family or no relative that I can come up with to sign the
cremation forms,” Catchen said.
Covington Catholic High School pallbearer team students say a prayer and carry a casket at an indigent burial Aug. 21 in Highland Cemetery in Fort Mitchell; from left area Mark Schult, Sean Nemann, Nick Cheesman and Adam Holstein-Seibert, Tony Flesch, Jeremy Greer, Justin Ryan and Tom Ryan