The Funeral Rites of the Catholic Church, part 1 (introduction & overview)

Introduction

Sen. Ted Kennedy's Funeral Mass was recently televised, and it calls to mind some important points about perhaps our most public rites, the Catholic funeral. The Catholic funeral differs in many distinct ways from the way secular society memorializes someone who has died. In many ways, it is countercultural, just like all of our sacraments. It calls us to imagine something that is beyond our imagining (life after death), and it recognizes our vulnerability, and indeed celebrates it. What better time to "get" the meaning of our belief in the Resurrection than to fully celebrate the Catholic funeral of a loved one!

       Like all of our rites, however, how well they convey the mystery is dependent upon how well and how completely they are done. Over the course of the next few posts, I will offer a description of various parts of the Catholic funeral rites, in the hopes that Catholics will be motivated to sit down with their pastor and develop a plan for their own funeral that is faithful to the Church's liturgy.

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Overview

 

The funeral rites of the Catholic Church are contained in the Order of Christians Funerals, which dates back to 1985. There are three movements in a Catholic funeral:

1. The Vigil — a service of scriptures, prayers, and personal reflections in the presence of the body or remains of the deceases, intended to occur the night before the Funeral Mass.
2. The Funeral Mass — a solemn Mass in the presence of the body or remains.
3. The Committal — final prayers held when the body or remains are placed in their final resting place.

Note that this parallels how we celebrate Christ's death and resurrection in three movements each year at the end of Holy Week. This is not a coincidence — we believe that, like Christ, we will die and all rise again. 
       Also note that the body or cremated remains are required for all of these rites. Without a body or remains, we may celebrate a Memorial Mass for the Dead and this may be rather beautiful, but it will lack the full sacramental power of the three-part funeral.