It's your funeral

[Mithras]

Entry of coffin: Cortege et Litanie - Dupre
Mass: Faure - all of it
Hymns: Angel Voices, The Day Thou Gavest
Psalm: Beatus Vir (Monteverdi)
Alleluia: Mozart
Post Communion: Priere apres la Communion (Messiaen, from Livre du Saint Sacrement)
Recessional: Prelude and Fugue in D BWV 532 - JS Bach

Sermon: an exposition upon the nature of death and resurrection with no reference to the deceased
Eulogy: FORBIDDEN

M

[gwyn]

[OT post removed by Musicus, moderator]

[Nick Baty]

Mass: Faure - all of it

With you on most of it but if the assembly is barred from the Sanctus at my Funeral I will haunt the MD for eternity!

Eulogy: FORBIDDEN

With you 100pc.

And, please, no photo on the coffin, as is the tradition round here – it's the liturgical equivalent of net curtains, Burberry and Knees up Mother Brown. (Am I a total snob?)

[docmattc]

Moving on, a couple of weeks after the cremation, my ashes are to be ... scattering me over the Irish Sea on the way.

and my ashes are to be scattered in Titford Pool of the Birmingham navigation.

Isn't the scattering of ashes greatly discouraged in the OCF? A keynote at summer school certainly said this.

You can bury me somewhere useful- maybe an allotment. There's just short of 10 stone of good fertilizer here that would only be wasted in a cemetery.

[monty]

Mass: Faure - all of it

I would settle for the In Paradisum and would rather have it played from a cd than sung badly!

[Nick Baty]

Definitely no CDs at mine. And If I'm having an In Paradisum make it Jenkins, please.

Has anyone used Sands's Song of Farewell with the Latin descant? It takes it from something rather lovely to something rather wonderful! We carried my dad out to this, back in 1993. The trumpeters were in the West Gallery and were instructed not to come in (with aforementioned descant as we had no high enough sopranos) until we reached a particular point in the central aisle. As they blasted high and loud my mother turned to me and said, "Your father would kill you if he could hear this". But I was pleased to be able to give this very humble man a great oomph at his final outing.

[nazard]

Isn't the scattering of ashes greatly discouraged in the OCF?

No matter what you do with the ashes they will end up scattered eventually. That is nature's way.

You can bury me somewhere useful- maybe an allotment. There's just short of 10 stone of good fertilizer here that would only be wasted in a cemetery.

If you kick the bucket before me, I have a whole row of those plastic dalek composters, you would be very welcome along with any vegetable matter, service sheets etc which are no longer required.

[Nick Baty]

No matter what you do with the ashes they will end up scattered eventually. That is nature's way.

My father's ashes were scattered: the reality was that a crematorium worker used a silver spade to create something of a gap in a rose bed and the ashes were poured in. He told us this was their most common practice as bereaved people could be distressed by the sight of ashes blowing thither and yon.

My former music teacher's ashes were scattered on the beach by a small group of friends. We each took turns to scatter a bit of her – and there was quite a bit of her to scatter! He husband went first but, alas, faced into the wind and his dark blue suit was soon rather dusty, something we couldn't fail to notice during the ensuing pub meal – she was still very much with us.

I remember walking away from that beach and we could see the darker patch where we'd spread her. We had hoped the tide would come in and wash the ashes away. But before it could a group of children ran right across the deceased with their beach ball. It was quite a moving scene, somehow, and I suspect she would have approved.

[festivaltrumpet]

USCCB Appendix to the Order of Christian Funerals, Paragraph 417

417 The cremated remains of a body should be treated with the same respect given to the human body from which they come. This includes the use of a worthy vessel to contain the ashes, the manner in which they are carried, the care and attention to appropriate placement and transport, and the final disposition. The cremated remains should be buried in a grave or entombed in a mausoleum or columbarium. The practice of scattering cremated remains on the sea, from the air, or on the ground, or keeping cremated remains in the home of a relative or friend of the deceased are not the reverent disposition that the Church requires. Whenever possible, appropriate means for recording with dignity the memory of the deceased should be adopted, such as a plaque or stone which records the name of the deceased.

[Gabriel]

Or some English thoughts on the subject can be found here:
http://www.liturgyoffice.org.uk/Resources/OCF/Ashes.pdf (pdf)

[Nick Baty]

Interesting that the US bishops consider burying an urn more respectful than pouring the ashes directly into the ground. And that the UK bishops speak only of burying the ashes but do not specify the need for an urn.

[contrabordun]

I wish to be cremated...to the community singing of "Colours of day"

lol (even though I've heard it before)

[presbyter]

[In our diocese, the preference is for the readings of the day.......

At weddings too? Oh my - what's happened to the third volume of the Lectionary in your part of the world?

[Nick Baty]

No, not at weddings.
And it is the boss's preference, rather than command.

[docmattc]

Isn't the scattering of ashes greatly discouraged in the OCF?

Thanks to FT and Gabriel for finding the references to this. As Nick mentions in another thread, its interesting that we have 'rest in one place' directives when it comes to the deceased, yet relics of saints tour the world or bits are distributed in several altars/churches/cities.