FUNERALS

• At a Catholic funeral the community gathers to say farewell to the person who has died and entrust that person to God’s loving care. 
• The Church through its funeral rites commends the dead to God’s merciful love and pleads for the forgiveness of their sins.
• The funeral liturgy has a formal structure with a set pattern of readings, homily, prayers, symbols and gestures.
• The Christian funeral should not become a secular celebration of the life of the deceased.

Ceremony

At St. Mary’s West Melbourne the funeral liturgy will not include projections of photographs or videos about the deceased’s life.

Celebrating memories of the life of the deceased may be carried out during a vigil prior to the day of the funeral or at a gathering after funeral.

If so desired, a photo board may be set up in the church foyer.

Readings

Readings are taken from the selection of scripture readings for the funeral liturgy.

The biblical readings may not be replaced by non-biblical readings.

Eulogies

There may be one eulogy at the start of the funeral ceremony. It should be brief out of consideration to those attending and respectful of the prayerful nature of the funeral ceremony.

Symbols

Only Christian symbols may rest on or be placed near the coffin during the funeral liturgy.

Any other symbols, for example, national flags, or flags or insignia of associations, have no place in the funeral liturgy.

Music

Music is integral to the funeral rites. It allows the community to express convictions and feelings that words alone may fail to convey.

Since music can evoke strong feelings, the music for the celebration of the funeral rites should be chosen with great care.

The music at funerals should support, console, and uplift the participants and should help to create in them a spirit of hope in Christ’s victory over death and in the Christian’s share in that victory.

St Mary’s Sacred Music Centre provides professional musicians for funerals as well as information on what type of music is suitable for use at St Mary Star of the Sea, West Melbourne. Our services accord with the mind of the Catholic Church, and with the special acoustics of St Mary’s church.

The following requirements regarding music are taken from the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne: “The music for a Catholic funeral is liturgical.”…..“Secular items are never to be sung or played at a Catholic funeral, such as romantic ballads, pop or rock music, political songs, football club songs. ”

Any hymns/songs played (instrumental or sung) must be on the approved list by the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference as in Catholic Worship Book II or the Church’s traditional Latin based hymns.

Therefore, at St. Mary’s any specifically written instrumental only music must be sacred/religious music or classical music that has become part of the church’s tradition.

Any other music requests could be played from inside the hearse as the coffin leaves the church.

It should be noted that no exceptions to this will be allowed under any circumstances.