“ For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance”. Ecclesiastes Chapter 3
The death of someone we have loved in this world is a time of great sadness and grief and our the parish community will always reach out with care and love and especially wish to support you at this time. There are so many decisions to be made when it comes to a funeral and much that can be done to ensure that the funeral you are arranging is prayerful, respectful and personal.
Funerals are essentially a prayer and they are a real witness to faith. If you want a Catholic funeral then the priest at Our Lady & St Alphege can help you with those preparations supported by the Funeral Director you have asked to help care for the one whom you have lost.
You might be looking for a Requiem Mass or for a Funeral Liturgy followed by burial or cremation. There is a given Rite for these things and within that Rite there are certain things that can be chosen and arranged by the family. The priest will guide you around what is appropriate in Church (if you are looking for a Catholic funeral) and what might be more appropriate at the cemetery or crematorium, or even at the reception afterwards.
Someone may like to speak during the Mass in some sort of Tribute to the person who has died. It is important that you speak with the priest who is celebrating the Funeral about this. Remember, not everything that can be said needs to be said at the Funeral. The Tribute is just some small way of capturing the character of the person who has brought us together. It is not the same as writing an obituary for the newspaper. The Tribute draws out the essence of the person – the sort of person they were and the sort of things they brought to life.
