Planning a Funeral

The Church ministers to the sorrowing and consoles them in the funeral rites with the comforting Word of God and the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
During The Planning Process

When a loved one has passed away the Epiphany clergy and staff are here to help you with the details of planning the funeral and burial. We work with the funeral home and the family to best accommodate the wishes of the deceased and of the family. To begin the funeral planning process please call 763.755.1020. Once the date and time have been established then a planning meeting can be set up with the priest who will be presiding.

The Planning Meeting

The Church of the Epiphany is a Catholic Church, which means that we celebrate funerals in accordance with the norms of the Catholic faith. Therefore, not all requests of the family can be accommodated within the funeral Mass itself, but could be part of the funeral luncheon or vigil the night before (i.e. readings which are not from the bible, songs which are not liturgical in nature, eulogies, etc.)

At the planning meeting the liturgy will be discussed. Music and readings will be selected. We have suggestions to help you. This is also the time to talk about participants in the funeral – will family members or friends do the readings or bring up the gifts at the Mass?

Related Links

Select Readings and Hymns

In general, the family of the deceased selects the readings used during the funeral liturgy from the following lists (a reading from each the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Gospels). In certain, difficult circumstances (suicides, civic officials, infant deaths, military funerals, etc) the priest or deacon presiding at the funeral may reserve the selection of one or more of the readings to himself.

Choose from the list of readings below. To read the actual scripture, copy and paste into your browser or review in the New American Bible.