Funerals
When there is a death in the family, you may not know how to proceed in order to arrange and prepare a funeral. Let us explain what we recommend:
You first must call a funeral home of your choice. They retrieve the body and start the preparation for the funeral services.
At this point, we recommend to give us a call at (414) 672-0313 Ext 113.
The funeral home will contact you and arrange a meeting with a funeral director. This person will guide you according to preferences of the family. It is at this point, you should inform the funeral director that you are a parishioner of Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish, and wish to have a Catholic Service for your loved one.
Catholic funerals has three parts:
The Vigil Service. "At the vigil, the Christian community keeps watch with the family in prayer to the God of mercy and finds strength in Christ's presence" (Order of Christian Funerals, no. 56). The Vigil Service usually takes place during the period of visitation and viewing at the funeral home. It is a time to remember the life of the deceased and to commend him/her to God. In prayer we ask God to console us in our grief and give us strength to support one another. The Vigil Service can take the form of a Service of the Word with readings from Sacred Scripture accompanied by reflection and prayers. It can also take the form of one of the prayers of the Office for the Dead from the Liturgy of the Hours. The clergy and your funeral director can assist in planning such service. It is most appropriate, when family and friends are gathered together for visitation, to offer time for recalling the life of the deceased. For this reason, eulogies are usually encouraged to be done at the funeral home during visitation or at the Vigil Service.
Funeral Liturgy. The funeral liturgy is the central liturgical celebration of the Christian community for the deceased. When one of its members dies, the Church encourages the celebration of the funeral liturgy at a Mass. When Mass cannot be celebrated, a funeral liturgy outside Mass can be celebrated at the church or in the funeral home. At the funeral liturgy, the Church gathers with the family and friends of the deceased to give praise and thanks to God for Christ's victory over sin and death, to commend the deceased to God's tender mercy and compassion, and to seek strength in the proclamation of the Paschal Mystery. The funeral liturgy, therefore, is an act of worship, and not merely an expression of grief.
Rite of Committal Service at the Cemetery. The Rite of Committal, the conclusion of the funeral rite, is the final act of the community of faith in caring for the body of its deceased member. It should normally be celebrated at the place of committal, that is, beside the open grave or place of interment. In committing the body to its resting place, the community expresses the hope that, with all those who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith, the deceased awaits the glory of the resurrection. The Rite of Committal is an expression of the communion that exists between the Church on earth and the Church in heaven: the deceased passes with the farewell prayers of the community of believers into the welcoming company of those who need faith no longer, but see God face-to-face
The funeral home calls the parish and arrange a date and time for the funeral services according to the preferences of the family and availability of the parish.
The parish fee for funerals is $150. The fee for the musician is $125. Normally, the family pays the funeral home, and they prepare the payments for the church, and musician.
Typically, the priest or a parish staff may contact the family in order to prepare the details of the Liturgy of the Funeral (readings, ministers, music, etc.).
Before the Funeral Liturgy, the funeral home should provide the parish with the “clergy record,” which contains detailed information about the funeral service.