Why do Catholics celebrate funeral rites as given in the Order of Christian Funerals?

~ To offer worship, praise and thanksgiving to God for the gift of a life which has now been returned to God.

~ To affirm the Church's belief in the sacredness of the human body and the resurrection of the dead.

~ To commend the dead to God's merciful love and to plead for the forgiveness of their sins.

~ To bring hope and consolation to the living.

~ To renew our awareness of God's mercy and judgment and to meet the human need to turn always to God in times of crisis.

~ To support the Church's emphasis on the indispensable role of the wider community in the dying and death of a Christian.

~ To affirm and express the union of the Church on earth with the Church in heaven in the one great Communion of Saints.

Pastoral Statement of Bishop Michael A. Saltarelli
Diocese of Wilmington in Delaware
October 28, 1999

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