Catholic deaths tracking

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How does the Church track deaths? Every year there is a listing of baptisms, first Communions, Confirmations, Marriages…and Deaths. This is recorded by parish, and figures are added up for diocese.

But how does the parish count deaths? Obviously they know who had a funeral in that particular parish. But many Catholics die without a funeral now.

Or else they have a funeral in a Protestant church, in a Catholic parish in Florida where they had moved, a strictly secular service, or something else off our radar. The days when most parishioners knew most other parishioners are long gone, in the USA.

For a fairly inactive Catholic I doubt relatives would bother notify the rectory, nor would Protestant churches (“you remember Bill, who you might still have on your rolls?”).
I think SSPX might notify Bill’s parish, if they knew which one it was. His closest parish might not be the one that has his baptism certificate, which I suppose is where his death is also recorded(?) nor the one that currently counts him as alive. Then there are people who lapse from one parish, don’t notify rectory of course when they moved, but join a new parish in the future. Could they die twice (statistically)?

So, how are Catholic deaths counted?
 
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The death tracking obviously only works for those who are participating with their parish enough that the parish would either be providing funeral services or would have some news of the death.

You noted “Marriages”, but many Catholics get married outside the Church nowadays, so the Church wouldn’t have a record if the Catholic married someone in a Protestant church or down at City Hall.
 
Is it possible that parishes look at legal death notices and see if any of them belonged to the parish?
 
commenter said:
How does the Church track deaths?
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The same way it counts other things. The record is made in the sacramental register, based on the parish in which the funeral, burial, or both take place.

Can. 1182 When the burial has been completed, a record is to be made in the register of deaths according to the norm of particular law.
commenter said:
His closest parish might not be the one that has his baptism certificate, which I suppose is where his death is also recorded(?)
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No. There are no records sent to a baptismal parish. There is no need. The death is recorded in whatever place the Catholic dies and is buried.
commenter said:
So, how are Catholic deaths counted?
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As per canon law.
 
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27lw said:
Is it possible that parishes look at legal death notices and see if any of them belonged to the parish?
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That isn’t the norm according to canon law. The parish follows canon law and the particular law of their diocese. Our diocese has a whole set of norms regarding funerals and cemeteries.
 
Okay, so funeral directors provide the information.
Presumably the family provides the info that “Dad was Catholic and used to go to St. Mary’s” or whatever.
 
I am not understanding why anyone thinks the Church needs to keep track of Catholic deaths. 🤔
Obviously if there is a funeral, the parish would note it in its records presumably. But I wouldn’t think they would feel the need to search out who died, and sometimes death notices are nothing more than who, when, and a list of their loved ones. Even if a parish wanted to keep track, reading the obituaries and death notices may not reveal the facts.
 
1ke said:
The same way it counts other things. The record is made in the sacramental register, based on the parish in which the funeral, burial, or both take place.

Can. 1182 When the burial has been completed, a record is to be made in the register of deaths according to the norm of particular law.
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Ok for deaths parishes are involved with follow up.

But suppose John is registered in a Catholic parish. But in recent years he usually attends a non denominational church, and gets buried from there.

How does his Catholic parish find out he is dead? If the undertaker records “religion” as that non denominational church, there wouldn’t be the normal routine notice to Catholic parish. The undertaker wouldn’t know about it.

Or if John dies, perhaps alone with no family or friends. A minister does a brief service. They don’t know John ever was Catholic.
 
We only know if the families let us know. Our parish office also reads the obits in the paper to see if we have any parish records of them.

These days, many Catholics have non practicing adult children who do not even think to call the parish.
 
commenter said:
But suppose John is registered in a Catholic parish. But in recent years he usually attends a non denominational church, and gets buried from there.

How does his Catholic parish find out he is dead?
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They don’t.
 
What is the need for a parish to know that a no-longer-attending person (who perhaps has been away for many years) has died? What purpose is served?
 
Pitcairn17 said:
What is the need for a parish to know that a no-longer-attending person (who perhaps has been away for many years) has died? What purpose is served?
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Whether it is needed or not, the fact is this data is universally collected and sometimes cited by Dioceses and others.
Hence my thread.

I suppose there’s a little value for planning purposes. Dioceses and parishes wonder how many Catholics are in a parish. A parish might do a census, but those seem very infrequent. My point is this data is much shakier than, say, number of baptisms.

For this reason I think the cited number of Catholics is somewhat inflated.
 
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1ke said:
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commenter:
the fact is this data is universally collected and sometimes cited by Dioceses and others.
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It’s collected per canon law, which is based on funerals/burials, not “people who died”.
commenter said:
My point is this data is much shakier than, say, number of baptisms.
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No. It’s a sacramental record like any other.
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In some cases the family does not want a Mass, or even a funeral, but invites a priest or deacon to do a service at a wake. I’m sure those would be counted as “deaths” for that parish.

I think your interpretation is the right one - the Church counts not births but baptisms - but the figures for “deaths” might be misread. There is a Catholic inner city mission in my city, they will do R C funerals (to be entered, I suppose, on the books of the geographic parish), but also some kind of service for non Catholics who often have no family or church.

Those, I suppose, wouldn’t be counted as “deaths”.
 
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