Funeral Celebrations

The Order of Christian Funerals of the Roman liturgy gives three types of funeral celebrations, corresponding to the three places in which they can be conducted (the home, the church and the cemetery) and according to the importance attached to them by the family, local customs, the culture, and popular piety.

• Funeral Mass
• Funeral Liturgy outside Mass
• Christian Burial (Rite of Committal)

The different funeral rites express the Paschal character of Christian death and are in keeping with the situations and traditions of each region, even as to the color of the liturgical vestments worn.

The Christian funeral confers on the deceased neither a sacrament nor a sacramental since he has "passed" beyond the sacramental economy. It is nonetheless a liturgical celebration of the Church. The ministry of the Church aims at expressing efficacious communion with the deceased, at the participation in that communion of the community gathered for the funeral and at the proclamation of eternal life to the community. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1684)