Why do families CHOOSE us to help them plan for a catholic funeral?
We are known for our compassionate, caring and thoroughly professional staff, and have years of experience in planning Catholic funeral services. Whether your family chooses cremation or burial, we will be proud to take care of all the details involved.
Factors to Consider
Facilities: Families tell us that our funeral home is warm, comfortable, inviting, and it feels like home. Your family will have access to our entire funeral home (not just one room) allowing you to spread out in our spacious rooms and conversation areas. We are close to the church and have ample additional parking to accommodate many people.
Price: Our Catholic Funeral Package price of $5,925 includes everything in our Traditional Funeral Service Package.
Reputation: We receive many cards and testimonials from the families we’ve served, thanking us for our caring ways during their time of loss. Their words warm our hearts, and speak to you about our professionalism, compassion, and the true value of the services we provide.
honor your loved one, pray for their soul, and give thanks to God
Most families still choose to have a viewing or visitation where family and friends may gather prior to a Mass of Christian Burial. This visitation period can be done a day or two before the Mass, or even for a few hours on the morning of the funeral. In either case, it allows extra time for you to grieve, share memories and comfort one another as a family and faith community.
The priest will come to the funeral home to meet your family and have some time to learn about the deceased to make their homily more personal and more meaningful.
If the deceased was active in the church, a faith organization such as the Ladies of Charity or Knights of Columbus may want to help commemorate his or her life and service to the church, which most often occurs at the funeral home.
This time together also gives families more time to personalize a funeral service by incorporating music, displaying keepsakes and memorabilia, showing custom photo slideshows and more.
Families often collaborate on crafting eulogies, selecting hymns and readings for the Funeral Mass, and speaking to the priest to create the most appropriate Catholic Funeral Mass possible.
Who is eligible?
In general, if you request a Catholic Funeral Mass for your loved one, the Catholic Church will honor the request for Catholics regardless of whether they attended church regularly.
The Mass itself also allows for a great amount of participation by family and friends. The use of pallbearers can be a valuable way to honor a loved one, and the vast majority of the time accommodations can be made for very young or old bearers or those who have ailments themselves so that they may still participate without actually having to lift or bear much weight.
Family members often choose to distribute the first and second readings and the universal prayers among themselves, as well as select two or more relatives to present the gifts before communion. Reflections or eulogies are optional, and can be done in church or at the cemetery if there is to be a procession to one immediately after the Mass.
Symbolism
There are several symbols that are present in Catholic funeral tradition, many of which date back centuries.
The priest greeting the casket and pallbearers at the entrance to the church harkens back to our baptism when a priest welcomed us into the congregation and our faith with a similar greeting.
Holy water, the same cleansing water used during baptism and by each attendee as they enter the church, is sprinkled on the casket to signify spiritual cleansing and rebirth into eternal life.
The funeral pall that is draped over the casket at the beginning of Mass represents the white garment that we were baptized in, and is emblematic of our life in Christ, and the full circle that is made through baptism into Christ and receiving eternal life through His death.
The casket is led to the altar by a crucifix as a reminder of Christ’s sacrifice and to offer mourners hope of eternal life in their time of grief.
Candles have long been used in Christian funerals as a symbol of eternal light. The Easter candle placed near the casket is a reminder of Christ’s victory over death, and that our loved ones now share in that triumph.
The Eucharist is a potent sign of our unity as a parish and our connection to Christ and His sacrifice and serves as another reminder of the promise of eternal life through His resurrection.
Incense is used during the commendation at the end of mass while the priest recites an ancient prayer for the deceased and the bereaved and symbolizes our prayers rising to God.
Each of these symbols plays an important role in any Catholic funeral, and by recognizing their importance in the Catholic faith and funeral tradition, we can better appreciate the deep connection we have with our faith, while also showing our loved ones the greatest honor and respect befitting their life in Christ.
Catholics can choose burial or Cremation
These days, Catholics can be buried or cremated after a Mass of Christian Burial, if the urn is committed to a permanent resting place, either in-ground or in a cemetery niche or crypt.
A committal service at the cemetery is the final act of a Catholic funeral. It offers a way for family and friends to say goodbye and gives them permission to take leave of their loved one. Usually officiated by a priest or deacon either in a cemetery chapel or graveside, the committal allows for further personalization and incorporation of family or cultural traditions, such as placing flowers on top of the casket before departing the cemetery.
Though a lot of churches no longer have banquet halls for a bereavement luncheon, many families still host a luncheon for attendees at a local restaurant or banquet facility to continue celebrating the life of their loved one and honoring their memory as a community.