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Why Have a Christian Funeral? │ by Deacon Marc

Why Have a Christian Funeral?

Unfortunately, in the world today too many of our children and grandchildren have left the Catholic faith.   The pressures of this modern world on our young people are enormous.  It is important for all to regularly pray and ask for St. Monica’s intercession to help bring these family members back to the Church.   We have a great opportunity at funerals to help family members who have left the Church, come back to the Church when they experience the beauty in the Order of Christian Funerals.  At the same time, I all too often have conversations with individuals who have lost a parent that do not want to have a Catholic Mass for their mother or father.   At times, they do not want any part of the Order of Christian Funerals.  Often they tell me that they are no longer Catholic and don’t feel like they need the Mass or other services.  It is at that point I need to remind them of the reasons we have funerals.  I need to further remind them that the funeral is not just for the living, but for the loved one who passed away.

While there are many reasons we have funerals, there are four primary reasons the Church has funerals.  First, we have funerals to praise God.   In this time of need, we come back to the Creator and praise Him for creating us and our loved one with love.  Secondly, we thank God for His mercy and love.  It is His mercy and love that gives us hope in ever lasting life.  At the funeral, we are reminded of God’s mercy and love by giving thanks for this love and the life of our deceased loved one.  Third, we pray for our deceased loved ones’ soul.  Christ is very clear in the Gospels that not everyone will go to Heaven.  As a Church, we believe that our prayers assist people on their purification in purgatory, and their journey to the Heavenly Father.  A significant reason we have a Mass and the other stages of the Order of Christian Funerals is both for the graces the deceased receives and the opportunity to pray for the loved one who passed away.  Finally, we have funerals to fill the void of loss with faith.  When we lose an someone we love, there is a void in our life.  Too often we try to fill that void in unhealthy and potentially harmful ways.  The funeral allows us to come together as a community and  fill that void with the love of God.

While there are many other reasons we have funerals, this is why it is important to have a Catholic Funeral.  While many experience the disappointment and pain of their children leaving the faith, it is important for us to make it clear to our children, family, and friends, that we want a Catholic funeral for the graces and gifts it provides to ourselves and those attending our funeral.  One way to do this is to pre-plan your funeral arrangements in advance.  Your parish and the Archdiocese of Denver Catholic Funeral and Cemetery Services can help you in planning the various aspects of your funeral and cemetery services.  This is a beautiful gift you can give your family to help them fill the void of loss with faith.

Deacon Marc Nestorick
Outreach Manager
Catholic Funeral & Cemetery Services of Colorado

For more information, visit our website: https://cfcscolorado.org/services/funeral/

Ministry Newsletter │ March 2024

Ministry Newsletter │ March 2024

Click here to view our entire ministry newsletter.

March is Dedicated to Saint Joseph

A statue of St. Joseph with the Child Jesus at Mt. Olivet Catholic Cemetery.

The month of March is dedicated to Saint Joseph. The Solemnity of St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is celebrated on March 19th.

Just as the Roman Catholic liturgical year has a rhythm and spiritual emphasis for each season, the liturgical tradition has dedicated a different spiritual focus to each day of the week. For example, Sundays focus on Christ’s Resurrection; Mondays, the Holy Spirit and souls in Purgatory; Tuesdays, the Holy Angels; Thursdays, the Blessed Sacrament; Fridays, Christ’s Passion and His Sacred Heart; and Saturdays, the Blessed Virgin Mary and her Immaculate Heart. Wednesdays focus on Saint Joseph. So, in addition to remembering St. Joseph in a special way during the month of March, we are encouraged to reflect on his fidelity to the Holy Family and intercede on the behalf of holy fatherhood, both spiritual and biological, every Wednesday of the year.

May you have a blessed and spiritually fruitful month of March!

 

 

 

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Traditional Methods of Final Disposition – Burial and Cremation │ Funeral Facts with Deacon Marc

 

Below is a transcript the the video:

Hello and welcome to this edition of Funeral Facts with Deacon Mark.

We just finished up talking about pre planning and planning and what’s involved in planning and why the benefits are planning. Now, I want to shift a little bit and we’re going to talk about final disposition and what are the options especially through the Catholic view of, for final disposition.

We’re going to look at the traditional ways of final disposition. Some nontypical ways. We’re going to look at natural burial in relationship to all that and then, we’re also going to look non options and discuss why those are non-options.

But to get started with you’re probably like what in the world is final disposition and if you think about those words it really is about that final action that is taken with that human body and so there’s some legal sides about that as well because in most states many states there’s permitting that is required around it and so when we’re talking about final disposition in the eyes of the church you’re really looking at two traditional ways for final disposition you’re looking at whole body burial or you’re looking at cremation and those are the final dispositions that are most common.

We’re going to talk about some uncommon ones but those are the most common final dispositions and when you’re looking at those cases. In both those cases, they require permitting in order to move to that final disposition.

So, before we can bury here at the cemetery, we need a disposition permit.

Before we can have someone cremated, we need a disposition permit and what’s in that is you gotta get a death certificate. Typically, this is done by the funeral director. They send it off to the doctor. Doctor has 48 hours in order to sign off on the death certificate. Once we get the death certificate back, then, we can apply for the disposition permit to either have the burial or the cremation.

In those cases, the final disposition of the burial, the traditional burial is the burial into that place that is part of the permit. If we’re going to someone later, we need to get permitting to move that body to a different place and we really don’t want to do that but that’s where the final disposition is bearing that person in that location.

For cremation, the final disposition is the cremation and those cremated remains is the final disposition and so in those cases in the eyes of the state, you can take those cremated remains and really do whatever you want to do with them but we’ve gotta remember just because it’s legal to do something, just because you can do something, doesn’t mean it’s the right to do and so as a church, we talk about respect for the body and respect for body that’s cremated or in intact in the same way and so we do ask that cremated remains be respected and placed into a cemetery and so that is the final disposition is that is traditional as cremation or whole body burial.

We’re going to look at next time in two examples of some more ways that are acceptable but not as traditional and we’ll talk about those next time, burial at sea and also donate your body to science.

Until that edition, this is Funeral Facts with Deacon Mark.

Make it a great day.

Visit our website to learn more: https://cfcscolorado.org/catholic-teaching/

The Order of Christian Funerals │ by Deacon Marc

The Order of Christian Funerals

Denver CO Funeral Home And Cremations

When I was 14, one of my closest friends passed away.  I was confused.  I was angry.  I didn’t know what to expect.  Thankfully, I had my parents to walk me through and support me through the journey.  I can remember vividly walking into the funeral home as a 14 year old boy.  I showed no emotion.  My mind was swirling.  I was thankful to see my friend one last time.   I did begin to find some joy when we were led in prayer by a priest which was followed by sharing stories.  I spoke about the times we went camping and the mentoring he provided me as a young scout.  The following day, we then went to the Catholic Church were we celebrated the Mass.  I can remember my friend being wheeled in his casket down the long aisle.  Within the Mass, my feelings all came to a head and this 14 year old strong boy started to cry, really cry.  I finally allowed myself to surrender in the presence of God to all the emotions I was feeling.  As he was carried out of the Church, I can clearly remember singing the hymn “On Eagles Wings” and asking God to help strengthen me.  We left the church and began the procession to the cemetery.  At the cemetery, the crying continued but I received comfort when the priest explained we were going to trust my friend to God.   The parents wanted to witness his final placement privately.  Therefore, after we finished the prayers, everyone started to leave.  I was one of the last.  I walked up and tapped on his casket twice asking God to care for my friend and to strengthen me.   It was not long after that final goodbye that the tears dried up.  I went to the reception where we continued to share memories of my friend.

Unbeknownst to me, at that time, I experienced the beauty of the Order of Christian Funerals and its three parts.  The church has the tradition of walking individuals through three distinct parts:  the Vigil, the Funeral Liturgy (typically a Funeral Mass), and the Committal.   These parts represent a journey from the home, to the church, and then to the cemetery.  These parts all include time for prayer and to varying degrees time to remember the individual who passed away.  Each of these traditions is designed to help individuals spiritually and psychologically move through the experience of losing someone and transitioning to a new way of life without that person.  The practices of the Order of Christian Funerals are built on many years of tradition, scripture, and Church teachings.   Hence, there is great wisdom and beauty in this practice.

While there is great beauty and wisdom in the Order of Christian Funerals, our world today does not always embrace this tradition.  As a society today, we often want things done quickly.  All too often I see families combining the three parts so that they take place back, to back, to back.  In other cases, individuals will skip one or more parts.  In doing so, individuals are often not only robbing themselves of opportunities to grow through this process both spiritually and psychologically, but in many cases they are foregoing graces for themselves and the deceased.  I am so thankful I was able to experience the Order of Christian Funerals when my friend passed away.  I was able to say goodbye to my friend, grow in love for God, and embrace a faith-filled community.   It was truly an experience of filling the void of loss with faith.

Deacon Marc Nestorick
Outreach Manager
Catholic Funeral & Cemetery Services of Colorado

For more information, visit our website: https://cfcscolorado.org/services/funeral/

Planning Your Funeral Needs – the Church │ Funeral Facts with Deacon Marc

 

Below is a transcript the the video:

Hello and welcome to this week’s Funeral Facts with Deacon Mark.

This is actually the fourth video of the series where we’ve been talking about pre-planning.

So, our first one, we talked about the benefits of pre-planning, how it gives you peace of mind and make sure that your desires are oriented, it saves you money, a lot of and relieves the stress of your family members at that time and so, lot of benefits to it.

Then, we went into a little bit about what’s involved with pre-planning at the cemetery and talked about the important of getting working with a real professional and help guide you in just like you get a real estate agent help you with the house. Really recommend having somebody work with you through all the different questions so that they can get the best space for your final internment.

And then, we talked about the funeral home side of things and planning the funeral home side of things.

So, there’s a third piece of planning that needs to take place and that’s the church and the services are going to be taking place and we always recommend, we’re a ministry of the Archdiocese of Denver. We always recommend people go to their parishes for that planning and they can help you plan what readings you want, what kind of music you want. If you have preferences to who would say the funeral, mass, service, whatever you may have. They can help you with those kinds of decisions.

At the same point in time, we do have some resources here to help you with that as well and one of the things I want to offer to you is we do have a free planning guide that you’re welcome to request through our website that we’ll put up here on the screen for you.

We can send this to you digitally, give it to you for free, and it really is nice. It walks you through a lot of different things to plan for the church. So, all the readings are in here and we have samples of songs that can be used, hymns that can be used but then, also and it talks about what records should be gathered, how you should have everything one place, a lot of great resources in this book that we can get to you for free.

So, we offer this to you as a good way to help you continue this planning process or begin planning process so we got the four pieces why pre plan is important, the cemetery, and the funeral side and then the church and the service.

That is this week’s Funeral Facts with Deacon Mark

Make it a great week.

For more information, visit our website: https://cfcscolorado.org/services/funeral/

Resources

Ministry Newsletter │ February 2024

Ministry Newsletter │February 2024

Click here to view our entire ministry newsletter.

February is Dedicated to the Holy Family

The month of February is dedicated to the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. The Holy Family is a model of virtue for all parents and children to follow.

The flight of the Holy Family into Egypt was held in special regard by the early Coptic Christians. They viewed it as an opportunity of reconciliation between Egyptians and God following the Exodus plagues and a form of preparation for the Christian faith which would later be proclaimed to them by the apostle Mark.

In 1893, Pope Leo XIII instituted the Feast of the Holy Family to assist in inspiring the Catholic faithful to live in the charity and virtue of the Holy Family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Planning Your Funeral Needs – the Mortuary / Funeral Home │ Funeral Facts with Deacon Marc

https://youtu.be/AxO-w3NgK2o

Below is a transcript the the video:

Hello and welcome to this edition of Funeral Facts with Deacon Mark.

We've been going through a journey in the last couple of videos of looking at what is the importance of pre-planning. Our last video, we talked about pre-planning for the cemetery.

Today, we're going to look at the other side of it, pre planning for your funeral home and so, give you a little bit of overview of what a funeral home is, some of the decisions you have to make and then, talk a little bit about the importance of a general price list.

So, funeral home is the one the entity that will care for your body. Everybody is going to need a funeral home. And so they're the ones that take your body in. They care for you. They make they make the final disposition arrangements and then they also are the ones that coordinate services.

It's almost like a wedding planner and also a care for the body of bringing those two pieces together.

The funeral home is a very important decision for you to make. When you're thinking about decisions that you are going to have to make around the funeral home.

There's a wide variety of them.

So, the last time I talked about the importance of having a real estate agent when you buy a house, it really is important to have someone help walk through those decisions for you and with you to help you guide you in them but at the same point in time, let me give you a couple different areas that you can look at and be thinking about in and around funeral planning.

The first is, what is your final disposition? Do you want a traditional burial or do you want a cremation?

That decision is really crucial 'cuz then, it guides all the other decisions that you're going to have to be 'cuz if you choose cremation, then, you have to decide, do you want to the services before or after cremation as the church recommends and prefers.

The services should be before cremation and then, that also leads to the question of if you're going to be cremated and you're going to have be at present service, what kind of casket are you going to use? A rental casket?

So, that disposition question has a lot of impact on other areas.

Another thing to think about is what services do you want and we've done other videos that talked about the Catholic services, the right Christian funerals and the three stages of the right of Christian funerals and so we can refer to that but the funeral home and especially a Catholic Funeral Home can help guide you through planning those services in alignment with the rights that the Catholic Church has.

Another thing to think about is what kind of care do you want for your body?

There's some people feel very adamantly that they don't want a viewing and other people who say I do want a viewing and then there's implications for that is do you want then if you're going to have a viewing is it going to be an open casket and if you have an open casket you have to have embalming.

Do you want makeup? the hairstyle? all those different things how do you want your body cared for one of the final things to think about is then notifications and tributes, do you want an obituary? do you want it in a newspaper? which really is expensive at this point or do you want it on the funeral home website? What kind of tributes do you want? Do you want a video made with pictures of you and different pieces like that and so those are all some of the different decisions that you have to make but it really all starts with that final disposition.

The other thing to be aware of with regards to funeral homes is by law, all funeral homes are required to have a general price list and are required to provide you that general price list so that all the cost are known upfront so that there's no surprises and you should be able to ask any funeral home to give you that their general price list and they should be able to provide it to you at any time and so if you like a general price list for ours, you're welcome to give us a contact here at Catholic Funeral Cemetery Services and we'll be happy to provide you one of those as well.

Hopefully this is helpful in helping you to understand not only the importance of pre planning but also what goes some of the components that go into pre planning with the funeral home.

Let's make it a great week, great day.

God bless and this is Funeral Facts with Deacon Mark.

For more information, visit our website: https://cfcscolorado.org/services/funeral/

 

What to Consider When Planning Your Cemetery Needs │ Funeral Facts with Deacon Marc

Below is a transcript the the video:

Hello, welcome to Funeral Facts with Deacon Mark.

We’re going to continue our conversation about pre-planning and we talked about the fact that there’s several areas to do pre-planning and that there’s a funeral home side of things, the cemetery side of things, and the church side of things.

Today, I want to talk about the cemetery side of things and give you some questions to begin to start to think about but in the end, I’m going to talk to you about the fact that it really helps to have a specialist to work through with you in the cemetery but there’s things that you can start thinking about so that you are prepared when you come to the specialist to help you out. So, when you’re thinking about cemetery.

The first real question, you have to with all of this is, do I want to be cremated or do I want a traditional burial and that is absolutely fundamental to it because that then guides all your other questions.

Once you decide that, then, let’s talk about cemetery and let’s assume that you are looking at a traditional burial and most of this, actually, all this will apply to cremation but just for a conversational talk traditional burial.

The next question that you have to answer is, do I want to be above ground or below ground? For both cremation and traditional burial, you can be below ground or above ground, below ground buried or above ground to hit a mausoleum, a columbarium or some type of structure that houses those that have passed away above ground and so that’s an important decision to make.

Some people feel very, very strongly about this. I was in San Francisco about a year ago and a guy came up to me and he’s like, I don’t want to be anywhere underground. I don’t want to be anywhere where water could touch me. I want to be on the top floor, top floor of the mausoleum and I said, you can talk to one of the people here who can help you out with that and so talking about do you want to look above ground or below ground and some of those have some different implications.

The other question is does location matter to you the cemetery unfortunately or fortunately is just like real estate some places are very expensive in the cemetery some places are less expensive.

A couple years ago I started talking about this to my wife and I came home from work and I said honey I picked out a perfect spot a cemetery spot for us and she instantly interrupted me knowing my personality she said let me guess it’s the most expensive spot in the cemetery and I said yes and so it was on the lake in our stations of the cross overlooking the mountains just absolutely gorgeous and her response was honey your dead it really doesn’t matter and I want the cheapest place possible.

So one of the conversations is do you want the cheapest? or do you want the most expensive? do you want a view? do you not want a view? or doesn’t it matter?

And so what is that location that you want for your family not only geographically do I want to be in North Denver, South Denver, do I want to be in Ohio but within the cemetery does that location matter to you?

And then the third piece with the question I would argue that you want to think about is who’s going to help you out with this?

Earlier this year my daughter bought her first house, very proud of her, and she said you know what dad I’m going to do it without a real estate agent she’s like I can save thousands of dollars you know how much I paid this guy to be a real estate agent? I said yes and you’re thankful and he actually save you money in the end.

And she came to me after she bought the house and said, yes, it was so good to have the real estate agent. He helped me through things and actually got me things that actually saved me money in the end.

I would really recommend working with one of our family service advisers. They could take you around the cemetery, look at all the different options that are out there. Some people have extended family and I’ve had questions like, can my husband and I and a child be all buried in the same plot and Family Service Advisor can work with you to help you answer your questions, look at your needs, and find out what’s going to be most beneficial to you.

And so here are the couple questions for you to think about with regard to cemetery is do you want a traditional burial? Or cremation? Do you want to be above ground? below ground? And does location matter? and then, once you have those things in mind, I would suggest giving us a call, talking to one of our family service advisers and they can help guide you and through the us and help you find that perfect spot for you and or your loved one for all of eternity.

This is Funeral Facts with Deacon Mark. Have a blessed day.

For more information about preplanning your funeral and cemetery needs, visit our website: https://cfcscolorado.org/services/cemetery/

Benefits of Preplanning Your Funeral and Cemetery Needs │ Funeral Facts with Deacon Marc

Below is a transcript the the video:

Hello this is Deacon Marc with funeral facts with Deacon Marc in the last video we talked about an introduction to pre planning and the three different pieces that are involved in pre planning; The Funeral Home, The Cemetery and The Church.

This week we’re going to take it in a little bit of different approach and talk about what are the benefits of pre planning and then we’ll go into each of those three parts in a little bit more detail in a future video.

But let’s talk about the benefits of pre planning and there are several.

The first one I want to talk about is you guarantee that your wishes are granted.

By doing the pre planning no one has to think about what you would have wanted or anything like that. Your wishes and desires are made clear in that plan and especially today where so many families are experiencing children that are leaving the church it’s really important especially if you want a church funeral, to have those plans clearly outlined so that you have that mass, that service that you want.

So one, your wishes are met.

Two is that it relieves stress. Now it’s not your stress that I’m talking about as my wife would tell me your dead you have no stress. OK, what we’re talking about is stress for your family.

Imagine at your passing they’re trying to figure everything out they’re grieving and now they have to deal with planning a funeral. By having them pre plans in place it really diminishes the stress in the family where they can really focus on their grieving and praying for you.

So, it makes your wishes clear, it relieves the stress of your family there’s, also financial savings to it. When I first got here at the cemetery we laid to rest a gentleman and did his pre planning in 1985 and yet he was buried in 2021 so he paid 1985 prices for 2021 funeral let me just put that in perspective.

In 1985 I can remember going getting a candy bar for $0.35 getting my favorite Snickers bar. Now you go anywhere you’re talking $2.00, $2.25, $2.50.

So, there’s that savings overtime especially the earlier you do your pre planning the more you’re going to save within it.

And then the final piece and maybe the most important is it helps you have the sense of accomplishment but it also spiritually it helps you realize that our life today is not the end but it’s the beginning.

We were created to be with the heavenly father and it helps us put this light into perspective.

There’s many benefits to pre planning and I would encourage you to pre planning if you want more information about preplanning please give us a call here at Catholic Funeral Cemetery Services (CFCS) of Colorado.

But whatever you do, begin; become prepared because it does make a difference and that is Funeral Facts with Deacon Marc

Make it a great day!

For more information about preplanning your funeral and cemetery needs, please visit our website: https://cfcscolorado.org/pre-planning/

For a FREE funeral and cemetery planning guide, visit: https://cfcscolorado.org/funeral-and-cemetery-planning-guide-request/

 

Ministry Newsletter │ January 2024

Ministry Newsletter │ January 2024

Click here to view our entire ministry newsletter.

January is Dedicated to the Most Holy Name of Jesus

The month of January is dedicated to the Most Holy Name of Jesus and, on January 3rd, the Roman Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus.

Early Christians started to commemorate the ceremonial naming of Jesus on January 1st for it is the eighth day following Christmas Day on December 25th which was formally commemorated as Jesus’ birthday by emperor Constantine and Pope Julius I in the mid-fourth century. “When eight days were completed for his circumcision, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel before he was conceived in the womb” (Luke 2:21).

Devotion to the Holy Name is deeply rooted in the Sacred Scriptures, especially in the Acts of the Apostles. The devotion was promoted by various saints over the centuries including St. Bernard of Clairvaux and the Franciscans, St. Bernardine of Siena and St. John of Capistrano. The Feast of the Most Holy Name of Jesus is the titular feast of the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuits.

The Holy Name of Jesus has been represented in Christian art as a monogram with the initials, IHS, the first three letters of Jesus (Iēsous) in the ancient Greek alphabet: iota (I), eta (represented by H when capitalized in Greek), and sigma (S). A less common variation of IHC has also been used in the past because sigma is represented by c when the letter is in the middle of a Greek word. A monogram for the name of Jesus is known as a Christogram. It is very common to see the IHS Christogram on Christian grave memorials and headstones, especially at Mount Olivet Catholic Cemetery.

“At the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:10-11)

An IHS Christogram at the top of the Mullen memorial at Mount Olivet Catholic Cemetery (Section 9).
A stylized, intertwined IHS Christogram on a grave marker at Mount Olivet Catholic Cemetery (Section 2).

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