NOVEMBER 2022
pastoral musician, you are about to undertake one of your most challenging, sensitive, and rewarding ministries. Among all the aspects of bereavement care that your parish can offer, music can play a central role in memorializing a loved one and comforting and giving hope to those who mourn. Te hymns and songs that are sung at the funeral rites, particularly the funeral Mass, can help give voice to the faith and feelings of grieving family and friends in ways that nothing else can and may well be remembered long after the last of the funeral flowers has faded away. You owe it to yourself as a pastoral musician, and to the families of those who have died, to prepare well in advance of that phone call or email message, so that you can focus on their needs and so that they will know they are in good hands.
Y
One of the tools that can help you at such a pivotal time is a funeral music planning guide that you can put in the hands of the family members when you meet with them, to help them make the decisions and choices they feel are most appropriate to honor their loved one and to aid the prayer of family and friends. Keep in mind, though, that a list of titles on a page is hardly adequate in the face of the loss experienced by the family and friends, and should always be accompanied by your personal presence to guide their choices and make recommendations based on each individual situation.
In preparing for this article, I had a conversation with Charlotte Mariasy, the Director of Liturgy and Music at St. Rose Parish in Perrysburg, Ohio and dean of the Toledo chapter of the American Guild of Organists. She shared with me the booklet they have created to help with preparation for funeral Masses at St. Rose, but most of our conversation was focused on the importance of the pastoral and personal nature of this ministry.
Te Booklet
I spent some time searching online to see how parishes present their bereavement ministry on their websites. A number of them post their planning guides online, and these are frequently lists of songs from
our phone rings or an email arrives, and you receive the news that a parishioner or a parishioner’s family member has died. As a
“The hymns and songs that are sung at the funeral rites can help give voice to the faith and feelings of grieving family and friends in ways that nothing else can.”
which families can choose the music for their funeral celebrations. Presumably, the family looks at this list first and then approaches meeting with the pastoral ministers with their music selections already in mind. Two things strike me as different about the St. Rose guide: you can’t download it from online, and the music selections are set in the context of the rites, readings, and prayers of the celebration. Tis means you don’t get the booklet without meeting with a minister from the parish (almost always Charlotte), and the music is seen as integral to the celebration, not something than can be independently plugged in.
After a brief introduction offering condolences and stating the purpose of the booklet, the guide moves through an outline of the funeral Mass, describing each step of the ritual with a few words of explanation and context. Here is an excerpt from the beginning of the booklet:
Introductory Rites: Greeting of the Body: As the funeral procession arrives at Saint Rose, the presiding minister will greet the family and the body at the baptismal font. After the family has gathered, the presider will begin the prayers.
Sprinkling of the Casket: As the presider sprinkles holy water over the casket during the service it serves to recall our baptism.
37
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
