From the Pastor’s Desk::

Once in a while a person will ask me if there is anything the Church offers to help plan their funeral.  It is usually followed by, “I’m not planning on dying just yet, but do not want my family to have to do it.”  Planning our funeral is not a morbid or “strange” thing to do.  Death is a part of our lives and as we plan for parties, weddings, or a new school year, we should also plan for our death and how we want it to be celebrated.  Planning our own funeral is also a great help to our loved ones who would be tasked with planning it during a sad time for them. A Catholic funeral tis to be a celebration of one’s life.

The liturgy for a Catholic Christian burial is divided into three parts.  Each part is in a different place and time, and each has a particular purpose.  The first place is usually in a funeral home where the body has been placed.  It can also be in the church.  This first part is called a wake.  A prayer service is usually prayed.  It is at this time that relatives and friends gather to greet and console each other.  Conversations focus on the earthly life of the deceased and memories are shared.  This can be an emotional time and is a valid and, I believe, a necessary part of the grieving process.  This is the time for the eulogy, not at the funeral Mass.  It is a time of tears, memories, sorrow, laughter, and consolation.  The eulogy, if used, focuses on a person’s earthly life, whereas the funeral liturgy focuses on the spiritual life.

The second place, is the church where the funeral Mass will be celebrated.  We bring the body into the church where we will recall the life of faith that began the day we were baptized.  The body is blessed with holy water in remembrance of our baptism and the white pall is placed on the coffin in remembrance of our white baptismal garment which we wore on the day of our baptism.

The funeral Mass is celebrated for the deceased person who began a journey of faith on the day of baptism and now, through the grace of God, has entered into the fullness of eternal life.  The entire liturgy looks forward to this destiny as it draws us into the mystery of redemption.  That is why a eulogy is out of place in a Catholic funeral Mass.

The final place, is where the body will be buried.  Here we return the body to the earth and place the soul in the hands of God.  Saying a final good-bye is a long and many times difficult process.  Often it is a time of mixed emotions.  Our Catholic funeral liturgy offers hope and a promise which our world cannot do.  Planning for our funeral is simply planning another aspect of our lives. 

Since the 1980’s, cremation has been accepted in the Catholic Church, and so everything I have just written pertains to a funeral with a body.  The only stipulation is that the ashes be interred in either a columbarium or in the ground.