Support During Loss Lazarus ministries, funeral homes collaborate for bereaved

BY EMMALEE ITALIA 

Contributing Editor

When grieving families are faced with the details of funeral arrangements, they might not know where to begin – and that’s where the cooperation between funeral homes and the Catholic parishes they serve can be a great source of comfort and reassurance.

Lazarus Ministries – or Bereavement Ministries – work in concert with funeral homes to assure the wishes of the deceased and the bereaved are honored, families and loved ones are spiritually supported, and that the Catholic Rite of Christian Burial is carried out respectfully.

A Delicate Process

The procedure is similar no matter the location. Families contact funeral homes, which orchestrate logistics and make phone calls to the parishes, requesting funeral Mass times and dates. If the par- ish has a Lazarus Ministry, its volunteers take the information and approach the family to discuss the Mass details: musical selections, readings and reflections.

James Moriarty, Jr., manager of Ely Funeral Home, Neptune, said that if families don’t know which church they would like to use, “we suggest a local church with which we have a relationship and trust – for example, Holy Innocents Church in Neptune… Once the family has talked with the parish about the details of the service, the funeral home staff works with the ministry to coordinate details upon arrival.”

Ely Funeral Home also has a good working relationship with the parishes of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Asbury Park; St. Anselm, Tinton Falls; Ascension, Bradley Beach; St. Catherine of Siena, Farmingdale, and St. Catharine-St. Margaret, Spring Lake.

“The importance is to provide a comforting farewell to the deceased, in order to allow our families to properly grieve,”

Moriarty emphasized.

“We have a good rapport with all the churches; if they need something, they know they can call us,” said Albert D. Correnti, Jr., manager of the Mather-Hodge Funeral Home, Princeton. “People don’t know how lucky they are if their parish has a Lazarus Ministry.”

Correnti, a member of St. Paul Parish, Princeton, works closely with his parish’s