Funeral Policies and Procedures:
Please review these Funeral Policies and Procedures at St. Benedict Parish prior to planning.

The following guidelines answer some of our most frequently asked questions about funerals and how they are prepared.  They are offered here also to avoid miscommunications and the possible hurt feelings that might result from those miscommunications.  They also represent some encouragement and direction for those other professionals that may be involved.

The Location of the Funeral
   The site of the funeral ought to be a very important consideration of your decision-making process.  It is not always easy, but there are some things that should be kept in mind.

• The pastor or his designate makes all decisions regarding funeral liturgies.  Any change to the ordinary course of a liturgy in that parish must be approved by him.
• The pastor makes decisions about the presider, time, etc.

• Before inviting visiting clergy to take part in a funeral liturgy, the pastor must be informed or asked. This is preferably done by the family themselves. The visiting priest may not be consulted before attending to this courtesy.
• After gaining permission by the pastor, the visiting priest will then contact the pastor to acknowledge their intention and availability and to request permission to participate.
• The meeting will happen at our parish to prepare the funeral as if the pastor was himself celebrating the Mass. (Truly, if the visiting clergy met a problem and couldn’t make it to the funeral, he would have to!)
• The parish will not permit any priest from outside the Diocese of Rochester without a letter of suitability from the congregation or diocese.

• The music director of the parish must be consulted about visiting musicians and must approve all musical selections for a funeral liturgy.  Ordinarily, parish musicians are to be used. 
• Songs, texts, words, actions that obscure or frustrate this are not permitted.
• To this point – There are no eulogies; words of remembrance may be offered that maintain the focus on the Gospel.  These words must maintain this because they are offered within a specific context: the Mass itself. 
• For the same reason, music selected for Mass must be chosen to maintain the same principle.

   We hope this is helpful. Our hope is focused on the beautiful celebration of the life and birth into the mercy of God for your loved one.  Please let us know how we can help and assist.  Our answer is almost always yes on most matters.  Many thanks and God bless you!

Planning for the Liturgy:
In order to make the Funeral Liturgy a meaningful and healing experience for family members and friends as we thank God for the gift of your loved one's life, support one another in our grief, pray for the deceased and celebrate our faith in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, family members and friends will be asked to play different roles during the liturgy and the family will be asked to select readings, prayers and music. You can find all this outlined in our Funeral Planning Form.

Readings: 
Readings for the Liturgy of the Word for the Rite of Christian Burial are divided into three parts: a selection from the Old Testament; a selection from the New Testament; and a Gospel.
   Suggested Scripture readings follow. You may click on the reading to review it and, if you wish, to print it.  Or you may click here to print out the list of readings. Make one selection each from the Old Testament, the New Testament, and Gospel. Enter each selection on your Funeral Planning Sheet where indicated.
   Other Scripture passages may be presented to the pastor for approval. However, non-Scripture readings may not be read in place of these readings.

First Reading (Old Testament)

Second Reading (New Testament)

Gospel

Prayers of the Faithful
Please select Prayers for the liturgy from the attached options. Please also select any family members and/or friends who may wish to read them at the funeral.  

Music: 
Please feel free to use our Parish Hymnal to choose appropriate music/song selections for the funeral liturgy. You can find some music suggestions and the corresponding numbers to find them in the hymnal here:  Suggested Hymns for Funerals 

Musicians: St. Benedict Parish provides you with an organist/pianist and a cantor/song leader. Their stipends are paid to the church through the funeral home (if applicable) and we will take care of payment of these stipends to the musicians. Our Pastoral Musicians will lead us in song through the funeral liturgy. If you wish to have someone sing a special song or solo, please let us know well ahead of time so that they may join our ministers of music. A rehearsal is usually held a short time before the funeral. If you need other arrangements, let us know.  

Words of Remembrance: 
Words of Remembrance at the funeral of a loved one in a profound way, do us a great good in this ministry. By your words, we learn how your loved one lived out a life of faith, and what great good God has done for you and others through him/her.

A few points to remember:

• Because these words occur during Mass, they must be directed toward how this person lived a life of faith or how you saw God in this person.
• This is not a eulogy. A eulogy is a longer recounting of the person's life and is appropriate elsewhere, but is not allowed during Mass. Not even the priest maymake a eulogy during a Mass. As your funeral director about a eulogy at a funeral home before the funeral, or the Church's preparer about a eulogy during the reception if this is something you'd like to do.
• The words should be no longer than five minutes in length. THe most powerful words of remembrance are often the shortest. The instruction for how Funeral Masses should be conducted includes an instruction to be brief.
• The Words of Remembrance are optional.

If you'd like to include Words of Remembrance at a funeral, please consider the following questions to help assist you in developing your thoughts:

• What characteristic of N____________________ was the most Christlike?
• In what way did you most see Jesus in N______________________?
• What brought the most joy to N_______________________ in their life? The most peace?
• What quality in N_____________________ gave you the most comfort?
• What quality in N_____________________ taught you the most about God?
• What did we learn about God through the activities we shared with N__________________?

Funeral Planning Ministry:
   Planning for a funeral is planning for the last farewell and celebration of a person's life and legacy. The Funeral Planning Ministry is a supportive ministry providing assistance to families in planning the Funeral Liturgy for their loved one. It provides family an opportunity to reflect on the life of their loved one and to plan a funeral that has significance for them.
   A planner meets with the family in a one-to-one setting to choose readings and music for the funeral. As part of the process, family members are able to indicate those individuals who will participate in the service. A key role of the planner is to provide guidance on the liturgy, answer questions, and provide clarification for family. The planner ensures that all of this information is shared with those members of the St. Benedict community involved in the funeral.
   Resources and training to assist with planning are available to planners. The team of planners are involved in the ministry on a rotating basis as funeral requests arise.
   If you’d like to join this ministry or have any questions, please email Teresa at [email protected].

To view our ministry video, please click here.