Now and at the Hour of Our Death: Practical and Prayerful Preparation

On March 8, 2020 St. Joseph Catholic Community hosted a program to overview the preparations for end-of-lifetime transitions, funerals, and other issues both practical and prayerful. Below are some of the resources mentioned in the workshop and additional items of interest.

Resources for Planning/Preparation

For each of the resources listed, links are provided for purchase from Amazon or the respective publisher, if available.

• Overall Planning/Information Recordation
  • Peace of Mind Planner: Important Information about My Belongings, Busincess Affairs, and Wishes. Peter Pauper Press, Inc., 2015. (get from Amazon or Publisher)
  • I’m Dead. Now What? Important Information about My Belongings, Business Affairs, and Wishes. Peter Pauper Press, Inc., 2015. (get from Amazon or Publisher) (This is the same content as the Peace of Mind Planner with a more provocative title.)
  • Checklist for My Family: A Guide to My History, Financial Plans, and Final Wishes. Sally Balch Hurme. ABA/AARP, 2015. (get from Amazon or ABA Publisher)
  • The Personal Internet Address & Password Logbook. Peter Pauper Press, 2010. (get from Amazon or Publisher) Find additional versions of this book—different covers, etc.—at the Publisher.
• Resource Websites
  • In Joyful Hope (Archdiocese of Baltimore)
  • National Catholic Bioethics Center (see especially the page and order form for A Catholic Guide to End-of-Life Decisions)

Considerations

Lists below are provided for information only. Their presentation is not an endorsement of these services.

Overall

• Is the funeral home familiar with Catholic rites?
• Preference is to have the body at the funeral liturgy
  • Simple caskets are available just for cremation
  • Some funeral homes/crematoriums rent caskets for use before cremation (though many have ceased). For cremation, a body must be presented in a rigid combustible box.
• In Maryland, cremation services must somehow be tied to a funeral home.
• Catholic funeral Masses should be at church, not a funeral home or cemetery.

Funeral Homes With Which Saint Francis Works

• Haight Funeral Home and Chapel (Sykesville/Eldersburg)
• Zumbrun Funeral Home (Sykesville/Eldersburg)
• Burrier-Queen Funeral Home & Crematory, P.A. (Winfield)
• Donaldson Funeral Home of Clarksville, P.A. (Clarksville)

Cemeteries

Note: A memorial garden is designed as a park: it does not have upright markers. A Cemetery may have upright markers.

• New Cathedral (Archdiocese of Baltimore; closest diocesan cemetery within the Archdiocese of Baltimore)
• Lakeview Memorial Park (Sykesville/Eldersburg)

Cremation

• Is the provider familiar with Catholic rites; or is it just a disposer?
• In Maryland, cremation services must somehow be tied to a funeral home.
• It is preferred that the body is present at the Mass, then cremated afterwards.
• Ashes should stay together (not scattered, put in jewelry, etc.) out of respect for the sacredness of the body.
• Ashes should be interred in a columbarium or sacred ground (not left in an urn at a family home, etc.)
• Some local services:
  • Going Home Cremation Services: $995 flat rate
  • Maryland Cremation Services: $875 flat rate

For Military Honors in Maryland

• Army & Air Force: 410-576-6133
• Navy: 301-677-0476 (Baltimore area); 202-433-4589 (Washington area); 757-322-2817/3120 (Eastern Shore)
• Coast Guard: 757-686-4116; 202-372-4013
• Marine Corps: 703-432-9524