Keeping the Church at the heart of the community.

Rev Adrian Judd,
01977 704744

You and Your Bereavement.

 

 

What do I do when there is a death in the family?

You may like to contact the vicar, Rev Adrian Judd immediately, on 01977 704744 so that he can offer some consolation and say prayers for you. Others prefer to contact a funeral director, and let him or her make all the necessary arrangements. The vicar will arrange to visit you at home or at your relative’s home to discuss the funeral arrangements.

 

Prayers in the home the night before the funeral can usually be arranged. Please speak to the vicar.

 

Arranging a Church Funeral, or a Funeral at a Crematorium.

Please ask your funeral director to contact the vicar, to make arrangements for your loved one’s funeral.

 

When can the funeral be?

 

Most funerals take place Monday to Friday when either the crematorium is open  or for a burial during daylight hours. Weekend funerals are sometimes possible, as the vicar works then, but the crematorium is closed and funeral directors may offer emergency cover only.

 

Friday funerals are possible but usually only with clergy cover from outside the parish if this is available.

 

Funerals on Bank Holidays, Easter and Christmas are possible if you can find a funeral director, and grave digger or open crematorium.

 

Where does the funeral take place?

 

The funeral may take place at Church, followed by a burial in the Church yard at Wentbridge or in the parish council burial ground at Smeaton, or the funeral service in Church may be followed by cremation. Pontefract crematorium is nearer, but there may be a special reason to go to Rose Hill in Doncaster.

 

If the family prefer the service may take place solely at the crematorium, though this is not recommended for Christians.

 

 

 

A death of a family member or friend, whether sudden or after a prolonged illness, is a time of uncertainty upset and grief. It is a time where feelings of emptiness and loss may come and go, alongside feelings of numbness, anger, anxiety or frustration. At this time the Church offers practical help with funeral arrangements, as well as  pastoral care  and reassurance of the resurrection to eternal life, and a social network in which  you can find comfort and support.. Please contact the vicar to arrange a home visit.  Nobody likes to think of what will happen if a loved-one dies.

We adore you O Christ and we bless you.

Because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

Etiquette at the time of death.

(Emily Post - Funeral Etiquetter, 1922)

 

AT no time does solemnity so possess our souls as when we stand deserted at the brink of darkness into which our loved one has gone. And the last place in the world where we would look for comfort at such a time is in the seeming artificiality of etiquette; yet it is in the moment of deepest sorrow that etiquette performs its most vital and real service.  

  All set rules for social observance have for their object the smoothing of personal contacts, and in nothing is smoothness so necessary as in observing the solemn rites accorded our dead