FUNERALS

We are sorry that you are planning for the loss of a loved one....

When you go to the funeral home to meet with the funeral director and make the arrangements for the funeral, please have the director contact the clergyman of your choice. In this manner you, the funeral director, and the clergyman can jointly decide on the date and time that is appropriate and available for all concerned. Please do not try to schedule the funeral by phone with the clergyman before going to the funeral home or with the funeral home without speaking with the clergyman. A three-way conversation is imperative or there can be a serious scheduling problem....

All, some or none of the visitation and funeral services can be held in the church and its facilities. 

There is no charge for the use of the church and its facilities or the services of the clergy. Sacred Heart Parishioners also usually provide a repast (a meal) following the service if the family and circumstances will permit it. Professional musicians as well as vocalists are the financial responsibility of the family. 

We are pleased to assist families with planning the funeral liturgies including Bible readings, some prayers and music. We welcome all musicians and vocalists so that the standard of live music can be met. We can also refer a variety of musicians and vocalists depending on availability. 

Funeral Planning Form

Texts can be found on the following links:

Universal Prayers for Funerals

Bereavement and Funerals

A STATEMENT OF CATHOLIC FAITH ABOUT THE BIBLICAL VISION OF DEATH

Instruction Ad resurgendum cum Christo
1. To rise with Christ, we must die with Christ: we must “be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Cor 5:8)….
2. The resurrection of Jesus is the culminating truth of the Christian faith, preached as an essential part of the Paschal Mystery from the very beginnings of Christianity: “For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures; that he was buried; that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures; that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve” (1 Cor 15:3-5).

Through his death and resurrection, Christ freed us from sin and gave us access to a new life, “so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Rm 6:4). Furthermore, the risen Christ is the principle and source of our future resurrection: “Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep […] For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor 15:20-22).

It is true that Christ will raise us up on the last day; but it is also true that, in a certain way, we have already risen with Christ. In Baptism, actually, we are immersed in the death and resurrection of Christ and sacramentally assimilated to him: “You were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead” (Col 2:12). United with Christ by Baptism, we already truly participate in the life of the risen Christ (cf. Eph 2:6).

Because of Christ, Christian death has a positive meaning. The Christian vision of death receives privileged expression in the liturgy of the Church: “Indeed for your faithful, Lord, life is changed not ended, and, when this earthly dwelling turns to dust, an eternal dwelling is made ready for them in heaven”.[2] By death the soul is separated from the body, but in the resurrection God will give incorruptible life to our body, transformed by reunion with our soul. In our own day also, the Church is called to proclaim her faith in the resurrection: “The confidence of Christians is the resurrection of the dead; believing this we live”.[3]

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The Sovereign Pontiff Francis, in the Audience granted to the undersigned Cardinal Prefect on 18 March 2016, approved the present Instruction, adopted in the Ordinary Session of this Congregation on 2 March 2016, and ordered its publication.

Rome, from the Offices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 15 August 2016, the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

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[2] Roman Missal, Preface I for the Dead.

[3] Tertullian, De Resurrectione carnis, 1,1: CCL 2, 921.