More French laity taking funerals

The Tablet
October 29, 2013

Lay ministers are increasingly leading funeral services in France as the growing shortage of priests has left fewer available to preside over the last rites. A survey for the Catholic magazine La Vie showed that 32 per cent of church funeral services are now conducted without a priest, compared to 19 per cent five years ago.

In regions hardest hit by the priest shortage such as Normandy and Rhone-Alpes, lay people now lead about 45 percent of all church funerals. If a prayer service takes place outside church premises, the level of lay leadership goes up to 69 percent, the survey said. The total number of priests in France has roughly halved over the past 15 years.

The survey showed that demand for religious funerals was still strong in France at 70 percent, despite the single-figure levels of regular church attendance. But civil burial rites are on the rise, up to 30 percent from 25 percent five years ago.