During this difficult time, we understand your need to reach out in order to plan a proper farewell for your loved one. However, it is important that your first step in planning a Funeral should be to contact your Funeral Director. After speaking to a Funeral Director, they will then contact the Parish Office, to confirm dates and assist with the Funeral arrangements.

St. Gianna Parish provides the bereaved family with a booklet, which gives a list of readings and musical selections which can be used during the Funeral Mass.

The priest who will celebrate the Funeral Mass will contact the family to arrange a meeting, in order to finalize the funeral plans.

Regarding the burial of the deceased and the conservation of the ashes in the case of cremation

DIOCESE OF CAMDEN

South Jersey Catholic Cemeteries

Your Choice † Your Privilege † Your Right

To Rise with Christ…

In October of 2016, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a document entitled Ad resurgendum cum Christo which translates to “To Rise with Christ” regarding the burial of the deceased and the conservation of the ashes in the case of cremation. Below is a summary of the key points of the document.

• Following the most ancient Christian tradition, the Church insistently recommends that the bodies of the deceased by buried in cemeteries or other sacred places.
• Burial is above all the most fitting way to express faith and hope in the resurrection of the body.
• By burying the bodies of the faithful, the Church confirms her faith in the resurrection of the body, and intends to show the great dignity of the human body.
• Burial in a cemetery or another sacred place adequately corresponds to the piety and respect owed to the bodies of the faithful departed who through Baptism have become temples of the Holy Spirit.
• The burial of the faithful departed in cemeteries or other sacred places encourages family members and the whole Christian community to pray for and remember the dead.
• Through the practice of burying the dead in cemeteries, in churches or their environs, Christian tradition has upheld the relationship between the living and the dead and has opposed any tendency to minimize, or relegate to the purely private sphere, the event of death and the meaning it has for Christians.
• In circumstances when cremation is chosen because of sanitary, economic or social considerations, this choice must never violate the explicitly-stated or the reasonably inferable wishes of the deceased faithful.
• The Church raises no doctrinal objections to this practice, since cremation of the deceased’s body does not affect his or her soul.
• Thus cremation, in and of itself, objectively negates neither the Christian doctrine of the soul’s immortality nor that of the resurrection of the body.
• The Church continues to prefer the practice of burying the bodies of the deceased, because this shows a greater esteem towards the deceased.
• Cremation is not opposed per se to the Christian religion under the condition that this choice has not been made through “a denial of Christian dogmas, the animosity of a secret society, or hatred of the Catholic religion and the Church.
• In the absence of motives contrary to Christian doctrine, the Church, after the celebration of the funeral rite, accompanies the choice of cremation, providing the relevant liturgical and pastoral directives.
• When, for legitimate motives, cremation of the body has been chosen, the ashes of the faithful must be laid to rest in a sacred place, that is, in a cemetery or, in certain cases, in a church or an area, which had been set aside for this purpose, and so-dedicated by the competent ecclesial authority.
• From the earliest times, Christians have desired that the faithful departed become the objects of the Christian community’s prayers and remembrance.
• The reservation of the ashes of the departed in a sacred place ensures that they are not excluded from the prayers and remembrance of their family or the Christian community.
• The conservation of the ashes of the departed in a domestic residence is not permitted.
• It is not permitted to scatter the ashes of the faithful departed in the air, on land, at sea or in some other way, nor may they be preserved in mementos, pieces of jewelry or other objects.
• When the deceased notoriously has requested cremation and the scattering of their ashes for reasons contrary to the Christian faith, a Christian funeral must be denied to that person according to the norms of the law.

The best way to make sure your wishes are carried out is to make preneed arrangements and communicate those arrangements clearly with family members. South Jersey Catholic Cemeteries of the Diocese of Camden can help you with those arrangements and documentation to share with your family. Visit our website www.SouthJerseyCatholicCemeteries.org or call 1-855-697-7375 for more information or to make an appointment.

George H. Wimberg Funeral Home
1707 New Rd
Linwood, NJ 08221
(609) 653-1881
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Adams-Perfect Funeral Home Inc.
Website: adams-perfect.com
Address: 1650 New Rd, Northfield, NJ 08225
Phone: (609) 641-0065

Jeffries and Keates Funeral Home
Website: jeffriesandkeates.com
Address: 228 Infield Ave, Northfield, NJ 08225
Phone: (609) 646-3400