Catholic attending Episcopal Funeral Service

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phil19034 said:
I think the real reasons Catholic Churches typically don’t host the reception a after funeral are:
  1. because Parish culture takes a while to change unless a clergyman forces a change.
  2. Many older Catholic Churches don’t have space large enough for a reception.
  3. And the ones that do, don’t think about it because everyone they knew growing up hosted the funeral reception in the home - like how the Jewish people do. After all, many ancient Catholic customers from the Jews. Having a funeral reception in your own home is one of them.
  4. The idea of using a catering hall is a relatively modern innovation that hasn’t caught on with all Catholics yet
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Perhaps you didn’t understand… a reception in the church after a funeral does not take the place of people gathering in the home of the family. Two separate occasions to show support and care.

And to speak of typical Sunday Coffee Hours after services, my guess is that most churches wouldn’t know what to do about coffee and donuts once a month. This is what I am used to:

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ComplineSanFran said:
Perhaps you didn’t understand… a reception in the church after a funeral does not take the place of people gathering in the home of the family. Two separate occasions to show support and care.

And to speak of typical Sunday Coffee Hours after services, my guess is that most churches wouldn’t know what to do about coffee and donuts once a month. This is what I am used to:

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
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But isn’t the 2nd one at home just for the family and close friends? I was referring to Catholics historicly having hundred+ people at the house for a reception.

In regards to your picture about the after service coffee hour, my current parish does that a few times a year, but not often, usually to celebrate Father’s B-Day or to welcome new members, etc.

The last time we tried to make a potluck brunch after a mass, the feedback wasn’t good because most people would reply with “we have brunch with the grandkids every Sunday” or “we got to grandma’s house for brunch every Sunday.”

But we do have massive spreads for Our Lady of Guadalupe (something like 500 people for a free dinner cooked by the Mexican members of the Parish for the WHOLE Parish, not just the Spanish speaking community.

And we often have good food spreads for adult faith formation classes, with lots of time built in for fellowship.
 
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ComplineSanFran said:
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phil19034:
I think the real reasons Catholic Churches typically don’t host the reception a after funeral are:
  1. because Parish culture takes a while to change unless a clergyman forces a change.
  2. Many older Catholic Churches don’t have space large enough for a reception.
  3. And the ones that do, don’t think about it because everyone they knew growing up hosted the funeral reception in the home - like how the Jewish people do. After all, many ancient Catholic customers from the Jews. Having a funeral reception in your own home is one of them.
  4. The idea of using a catering hall is a relatively modern innovation that hasn’t caught on with all Catholics yet
Click to expand...
Perhaps you didn’t understand… a reception in the church after a funeral does not take the place of people gathering in the home of the family. Two separate occasions to show support and care.

And to speak of typical Sunday Coffee Hours after services, my guess is that most churches wouldn’t know what to do about coffee and donuts once a month. This is what I am used to:

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
Click to expand...
That is what we have once a month, or did until the weight of the snow on the roof this winder broke a truss and the ceiling in the the meeting room came down. We won’t be gathering for food again until that’s fixed and the insurance company is dragging its feet.
 
I saw the visitation on the news for Hafas al Assad. Many of the diplomats who were Catholic came to the coffin and made the sign of the cross and said a short prayer for the repose of his soul. I imagine the same thing would be acceptable for you in this instance.
 
Depending on the flavor of Anglicanism of the parish, many Anglicans do the same, in the course of the service. Though I’ve never seen an approach to the coffin.
 
Ours looks similar, but yours is better! I love Episcopal coffee hour!
 
At my previous parish some of the funerals were followed by a reception involving lots of food. So Catholics do do this sort of thing. At my current parish I doubt there is a reception following. My current parish doesn’t have much of a gathering space.

I have never heard of anyone renting a hall for the “dead spread.”
 
OP, has the funeral happened yet? If so, how did it go? Were you comfortable attending an Episcopal service?
 
@ComplineSanFran, It happened yesterday. I heard that it went very well and that she was well mourned but I was unable to go do a last minute job interview.

I felt bad about it for a while but then someone who knew her assured me that she would have wanted me to go to the job interview.
 
Phemie said:
I’ve never attended an Anglican funeral that had Communion as part of it.
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All of them I’ve been to have has communion. I was raised EC so I’ve been to many, including most of my family.
 
Of course you should go. And of all the churches that were formed following the “reformation” you will be more at home in an Episcopal church (true also of Lutheran churches). Many times Episcopal churches have communion at a funeral, but many times they do not. It depends, more than anything, on the wishes of the family. Don’t take it, if you don’t want to.

If you are lucky, it will start with the glorious “funeral sentences”, beginning with the priest accompanying the casket with “I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord…” You may remember this from British murder mysteries!

Just to make it clearer. Barbara Bush’s recent funeral was Episcopalian, so were the funerals of Gerald Ford (an Episcopalian) Ronald Reagan (not an Episcopalian). This is not some strange animal. This is scripture pieced together in a stately and elegant form.
 
I’ve been going through a lot of papers (of necessity), and just hit on the bulletin for the last Anglican Burial Office and Requiem Mass I attended, about 18 months ago. Opens with “I am the resurrection and the life…”, yep. And goes on for 19 pages in the Mass bulletin. I hope for the same, in my time.

No Dies irae, that time, but sometimes it’s included.
 
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GKMotley said:
I’ve been going through a lot of papers (of necessity), and just hit on the bulletin for the last Anglican Burial Office and Requiem Mass I attended, about 18 months ago. Opens with “I am the resurrection and the life…”, yep. And goes on for 19 pages in the Mass bulletin. I hope for the same, in my time.
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Write down your wishes and give it to your priest. Funeral planning is always appropriate to do.
 
GKMotley said:
Opens with “I am the resurrection and the life…”, yep. And goes on for 19 pages in the Mass bulletin.
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I can still remember the first CofE funeral service I attended more than half a century ago, and the priest dramatically entering the church with the coffin and proclaiming in ringing tones as he did so: “I am the resurrection and the life …” etc. Very impressive. How dismal by comparison are those non- or hardly- denominational crematorium services with a kind of Muzak accompaniment, so many of which one has attended in the intervening years.
 
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