Funerals at Immaculate Heart of Mary

On behalf of our parish family, we extend to you our deepest sympathies and assurance of our closeness in prayer as you grieve the loss of your loved one. In order to help you prepare for our planning meeting, we offer the following comments on various aspects of the Catholic funeral liturgy.

Readings and Music

The Church offers many options for readings from Sacred Scripture at the funeral Mass. So that you have adequate opportunity to consider these options, we encourage you to spend some time prayerfully reviewing the options before our planning meeting. You can find the readings here: https://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/sacraments-and-sacramentals/bereavement-and-funerals#tab--for-adults. Ordinarily, you will choose three readings: Old Testament, New Testament, and Gospel.

If you or your deceased loved one have any favorite church hymns, we will be glad to honor your music requests. All hymns must be appropriate to the Catholic liturgy (i.e., sacred, rather than secular). We will be happy to offer recommendations to help fill out the various hymns required for the Mass.

Remarks of Remembrance

If you desire to have family or friends speak in remembrance of your loved one, we ask you to incorporate eulogies into the visitation prior to the Mass or the luncheon afterwards. This helps to preserve the sacred atmosphere proper to the funeral Mass and ensures that there are no restrictions/limitations to the number and length of speeches.

Cremation

Although the Catholic Church maintains a preference for full burial of the body of the deceased, cremation is permitted, as long as it is not an intentional denial of the Church’s teaching regarding the resurrection of the body. Cremated remains must be treated with the same respect as would be attributed to the body. After the Funeral Liturgy, the cremated remains are to be either interred or entombed in a cemetery. Cremated remains should never be separated or scattered or disposed in any other way. Neither is it permissible for cremated remains to be kept in the family home or used in decorative jewelry. The priest or deacon will be happy to go with you to the cemetery to offer the proper graveside prayers. If this does not happen immediately after the funeral Mass, it should be scheduled in the near future.