Our parish family expresses sincere prayers for your comfort and healing at this time of grief. God brings us together to celebrate the interweaving of life and death as part of our Christian identity.
Honoring your deceased family member with a Catholic funeral or memorial Mass shows your commitment to the faith of your family member. Though the funeral/memorial Mass celebrates the life of the deceased, it is mainly meant to be the sign of a bridge between life on earth and eternal life with God. The funeral service offers an opportunity for those assembled to grow stronger in their own faith and to be supported by the faith of others.
Some families are too grief stricken or overwhelmed to plan the entire funeral service. If this is true for you, the parish team will plan all or parts of the funeral for you.
Planning a funeral Mass can begin the healing process. Funeral services and memorial Masses no longer are planned with funeral home staff. A church funeral planner from the parish will call you as soon as the funeral home has given us the name of a contact person.
The funeral home already should have informed you about our website materials to facilitate this process. If you are not computer savvy, we have binders with planning information that can be picked up at the rectory, or the church funeral planner can meet you at your convenience. We prefer that funeral planning not be rushed or regarded as just another task. If you wish to plan the funeral service or any part of it, this guide will help you.
This guide is set up in six parts (click on each link to view each section):
- Choosing scriptures and readers.
- Gathering procedures (including pall placers and offertory gift presenters).
- Choosing sacred music (including diocesan policy regarding popular, secular, favorite or recorded music.)
- Should someone give a eulogy? (Advice for the eulogy presenter.)
- Respecting church space.
- Livestreaming the funeral Mass.