Funeral Planning: Practical and Prayerful Preparation

On January 26, 2020 and November 17, 2024 the Adult Faith Formation hosted a program to overview the preparations for end-of-lifetime transitions, funerals, and other issues both practical and prayerful. Below are some of the resources mentioned in the workshop and additional items of interest.

Slide Deck (PowerPoint Presentation)

View/Download the Presentation as a PDF.

Resources for Planning/Preparation

For each of the resources listed, links are provided for purchase from Amazon or the respective publisher, if available.

• Overall Planning/Information Recordation
  • Peace of Mind Planner: Important Information about My Belongings, Busincess Affairs, and Wishes. Peter Pauper Press, Inc., 2015. (get from Amazon or Publisher)
  • I’m Dead. Now What? Important Information about My Belongings, Business Affairs, and Wishes. Peter Pauper Press, Inc., 2015. (get from Amazon or Publisher) (This is the same content as the Peace of Mind Planner with a more provocative title.)
  • Checklist for My Family: A Guide to My History, Financial Plans, and Final Wishes. Sally Balch Hurme. ABA/AARP, 2015. (get from Amazon or ABA Publisher)
  • The Personal Internet Address & Password Logbook. Peter Pauper Press, 2010. (get from Amazon or Publisher) Find additional versions of this book—different covers, etc.—at the Publisher.
• Now and at the Hour of Our Death–a wonderful resource from Liturgy Training Publications on preparation for both practical concerns and liturgical/prayer concerns. (get from Amazon or the Publisher)

Prayers/Spiritual Reading

• Grieving: A Spiritual Process for Catholics (from Amazon or the Publisher)
• Do Not Let Your Hearts Be Troubled: The Catholic Understanding of Death and Eternal Life (from the Publisher)
• A Sourcebook About Christian Death (from the Publisher)
• Grace in the Wound: Finding Hope in Long-Term Grief (from Amazon or the Publisher)

Considerations

Lists below are provided for information only. They are primarily the services with which St. Francis of Assisi most often works. Their presentation is not an endorsement of these services.

Overall

• Is the funeral home familiar with Catholic rites?
• Preference is to have the body at the funeral liturgy
  • Simple caskets are available just for cremation
  • Some funeral homes/crematoriums rent caskets for use before cremation (though many have ceased). For cremation, a body must be presented in a rigid combustible box.
• In Maryland, cremation services must somehow be tied to a funeral home.
• Catholic funeral Masses should be at church, not a funeral home or cemetery.
• Article in U.S. Catholic on “Who Can Have a Catholic Funeral?”

Funeral Homes With Which Saint Francis Works

• Harry J. Witzke (Ellicott City)
• Witzke (Columbia)
• Donaldson (Laurel)
• Donaldson (Clarksville)
• Borgwardt (Beltsville)

Cemeteries

Note: A memorial garden is designed as a park: it does not have upright markers. A Cemetery may have upright markers.

• Gate of Heaven (Archdiocese of Washington; geographically closest to St. Francis of Assisi)
• New Cathedral (Archdiocese of Baltimore; closest diocesan cemetery within the Archdiocese of Baltimore)
• St. Louis Cemetery (available to St. Francis parishioners)
• Crest Lawn (memorial garden, though one section permits upright markers)
• Meadowridge Memorial Park (memorial garden)

Cremation

• Is the provider familiar with Catholic rites; or is it just a disposer?
• In Maryland, cremation services must somehow be tied to a funeral home.
• It is preferred that the body is present at the Mass, then cremated afterwards.
• Ashes should stay together (not scattered, put in jewelry, etc.) out of respect for the sacredness of the body.
• Ashes should be interred in a columbarium or sacred ground (not left in an urn at a family home, etc.)
• Some local services:
  • Going Home Cremation Services: $995 flat rate
  • Maryland Cremation Services: $875 flat rate

Green Burial

Article in the Catholic Review: “Baltimore County cemetery offers green burials“

For Military Honors in Maryland

• Army & Air Force: 410-576-6133
• Navy: 301-677-0476 (Baltimore area); 202-433-4589 (Washington area); 757-322-2817/3120 (Eastern Shore)
• Coast Guard: 757-686-4116; 202-372-4013
• Marine Corps: 703-432-9524

Resources on Parish Grief Ministry

• A Parish Guide for Bereavement Ministry & Funeral Planning (get from Amazon or the Publisher)
• A New Parish Guide to Grief Ministry: Creative Ways to Implement a Program of Healing and Growth (get from Amazon or the Publisher)