Funeral Planning

Pre-planning a Funeral Mass:  In times of grief, the family may not have adequate time or is too distraught to make reasonable liturgical arrangements for a funeral mass. As such, the pre-planning of a funeral mass when the death of a loved one is expected may be helpful to both the family and the church to ensure all arrangements for the Mass are adequately reviewed, selected, and prepared. 

To pre-plan a funeral mass, the family may review and make selections from the following by using the links below:

First Reading Choices
First Reading Choices (during Easter)
Second Reading Choices
Song Selections - Choose one from each category

In addition, the family should complete the Personal Information Sheet, which is for use by the priest in preparing the homily. 
Please note that the planning is not final until the family has met with someone in the office to review and finalize the funeral plan.

Requesting a Funeral Service: Please get in touch with the parish office as soon as possible if you would like to have a funeral service for a deceased person. The funeral service may include a wake, a mass, and/or a burial.

Cremation: The Catholic church allows the body to be cremated but prefers that the body first be brought to the church in a casket for the funeral mass then taken back to the funeral home to be cremated. If the family wishes to have the body cremated first, the ashes may be brought to the church in an appropriate vessel for the funeral mass.

For a funeral mass with a casket, the funeral home director is to call the parish office to arrange for the date and time of the funeral mass; this is to ensure the funeral home can support bringing the body to the church at the determined time.

The current fee for a funeral mass is $500 for the use of the church, a pianist, and a cantor. In addition, the family determines gratuity to the priest and/or deacon and is given directly to them.

For more information on funeral planning, please contact Deacon H.V. Le at 757-381-7126 or [email protected].