Your Funeral Is Not About You

A closed casket, the use of the pall, and matching hangings and vestments in the color of Easter visually shift the focus away from death and dead bodies to the resurrection.

Speaking of the Dead

I am disturbed that any Christian — among the laity or ordained — would demonize a newly departed Christian soul.

Justice for the Unclaimed Dead

After St. Joseph's example, my parish pledged to give up our tomb. We pay for the cremation of children for families who cannot. For babies who are unclaimed, we have made a perpetual claim. For all who need a grave, we have opened our grounds.