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Two Hispanic churches in New York City have lost more than 100 congregants to the coronavirus pandemic.
A Roman Catholic church in Queens and a Lutheran church in Manhattan are now united by the community's overwhelming grief.
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Bishop Paul Egensteiner, who was elected to lead the Evangelical Lutheran Church’s Metropolitan New York Synod last year, said he's angered by Americans who argue COVID-19 has been overhyped.
The Rev. Fabian Fabian Arias offers a blessing over the head of a family member after leading an in-home funeral service for Graciela Ruiz Martinez who died of COVID-19, May 10, in the Queens borough of New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
“You have to be in a very privileged place to be able to say that,” Egensteiner told CNN. “You either have blinders on, or it’s an acute lack of awareness of how this virus is devastating communities.”
The Rev. Fabian Arias, pastor of Lutheran Iglesia de Sion, a congregation partnered with Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, has had funeral after funeral over the last two months for his parishioners, at least 44 of whom died from the virus.
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“Ninety-nine percent of funeral homes are not receiving people for religious ceremonies; they say ‘no,’ ” Arias said. “They will take your body and provide cremation.”
The Rev. Fabian Arias is surrounded by family members as he leads an in-home funeral service beside the remains of Graciela Ruiz Martinez who died of COVID-19, May 10, in the Queens borough of New York. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
The Lutheran pastor from Buenos Aires, Argentina, said he is doing his best with so many deaths.
But the death toll is even higher at Saint Bartholomew Catholic Church in Elmhurst, Queens. The Rev. Rick Beuther said at least 63 members have died from the virus, possibly dozens more.
“The last eight, 10 weeks has been a real tsunami, a disaster for us here, between sickness, death, unemployment and just lack of services for the undocumented,” Beuther said.
The Rev. Fabian Arias touches rosary beads he has hanging from his rearview mirror on a food donation delivery run to the Harlem neighborhood of the Manhattan borough of New York, May 8. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
Arias performed an in-home service for the first time this week since the pandemic started.
Raul Luis López died at 39, a native of Oaxaca, Mexico. His family never got to say goodbye after he was hospitalized on April 3, dying of COVID-19 three weeks later.
His wife, Sara Cruz, thanked Arias but she remains concerned.
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“After this service, I feel much, much better and relieved that the spirit of Raul is released into God’s hands,” said Cruz. “Everybody is afraid, not only for ourselves but for our community and especially Father Fabian and all the services he’s doing. It’s very dangerous for him. But he’s here for us.”
New York continues to be the heaviest hit with 343,000 confirmed cases and at least 22,170 deaths.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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