If a loved one has died, please contact the church office to arrange a time to meet to discuss the funeral.
Funerals
Our Catholic faith teaches that death is not the end but rather the beginning of new life. Death is a time of grief, of hope and of expectations, not only for the immediate family of the deceased, but also for the parish family. The funeral is a time to acknowledge and to respond to a change that has taken place. It is a time for family, friends and relatives to pay their respects to the deceased and give comfort to the family survivors.
The Funeral Liturgy consists of 3 parts:
The Vigil for the Deceased (Wake). Gathering in the presence of the body, the mourners come together either in the home of the deceased, the parish church or the funeral home to comfort one another with the assurances of faith. It is during the Vigil that words of remembrance are especially appropriate as well as the celebration of the life of the departed.
The Mass of Christian Burial (also called the Mass of Resurrection). The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the greatest prayer we can offer on behalf of those we love. Here the Church celebrates the mystery of the passion, death and resurrection of Christ and recognizes the deceased Christian’s participation in that mystery. The symbols used at a funeral mass are the same ones used at the person’s baptism. By this, we recognize their birth into eternal life.
The Burial (Committal). Gathering at the grave site, the people gather for one last time to bless the grave and to commit the mortal remains of the deceased into the ground or a suitable tomb. Here the beloved dead will await their own resurrection when Christ comes in glory.
Funeral arrangements are ordinarily made by the family members who contact the Pastor to conduct the services.
A Word About Cremation
A recent document released from the Holy See in August 2016 stated, “The Church raises no doctrinal objections to the practice practice of cremation, since cremation of the deceased’s body does not affect his or her soul, nor does it prevent God, in his omnipotence, from raising up the deceased body to new life. Thus cremation, in and of itself, objectively negates neither the Christian doctrine of the soul’s immortality nor that of the resurrection of the body.” This document affirms the permissibility of cremation as long as it is not done for reasons contrary to the Faith. The current teaching on cremation, therefore, is that body burial is preferred but cremation is permitted. Cremation may be preferred because of “sanity, economic or social considerations.”
Since created remains are still the remains of a person, they should be laid to rest in a manner similar to a body. This means that “the ashes of the faithful must be laid to rest in a sacred place, that is, in the cemetery, or in certain cases, in a church or an area, which has been set aside for this purpose, and so dedicated by the competent ecclesial authority.”
In recent years trends have begun where cremated remains are reserved or disposed of in ways that are not in keeping with the dignity of the body. Some of the more popular ones include scattering the ashes in a place that was special to the deceased, reserving them in an urn in the home, mixing the remains of two or more people and dividing them between friends and family. While there is surely a well-intended emotional and sentimental motive for doing such things the fact remains that what is being scattered, reserved, mixed and divided is what remains of a human being that was made in the image and likeness of God. Burying or inuring them is more in keeping with the deeply held Faith of the deceased.
On a practical level, having a place to go, like a cemetery or other appropriate place of repose, for the deceased is important. It is a special place where survivors can be close to the human remains of their loved ones. This is in opposition to no place (in the case of scattering) or common place (in the case of preserving them in the home.) It also lasts throughout time. Children, grandchildren and further can visit their lineage and it can provide a sense of connection to their family.