Instaurare omnia in Christo
To restore all things in Christ
When a family member has passed away, we recommend the following steps and consideration:
Initially, contact a Mortuary who will handle the physical remains of your loved ones. Then, you and the Mortuary along with the Church can discuss dates and times for a funeral at St. Pius X. Funerals are normally scheduled for 10:00 a.m. on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.
Decide if you would like to a Prayer Service or Rosary the night before the funeral and where you like to hold the Service/Rosary, either at the Church or the Mortuary. Please be aware that every transport of the casket by the mortuary personnel to and from the Church involves extra cost.
Think about whether or not you would like a Reception after the funeral or burial. A reception allows a space for family and friends to gather after the funeral and burial services. Often, people’s homes are not large enough to hold such a gathering and the Church could be a better location.
Once a date and time have been confirmed, by our Pastor for a funeral, we will invite the family members to come to the Parish Office to help plan the funeral liturgy. At this meeting, we will plan the readings, the music, make arrangements for a reception (if needed), and plan for any other services (Prayer Service or Rosary) you would like to have.
Below we have provided a sample Funeral Planning Guide to help you know the kinds of choices you have. We recommend that you take a look at this Guide to familiarize yourself with the choices we will be discussing at the Funeral Planning Meeting. We do allow some time for a short Eulogy during a funeral toward the end of the Mass after Communion but, please know that our Pastor typically allows only one Eulogy under five minutes and he will want to review the text of the Eulogy in advance.
Most parishes, including ours, require that funeral music is Christian and not prerecorded. Again, because the Prayer Service or Rosary is a more informal time, many parishes are encouraging families to do their memorials/eulogies at these settings the night before.
Please contact the Parish Office at 303-364-7435.
The Catholic Funeral Liturgy is a formal, highly stylized, ritual event.
The ritual actions, the language, and the symbols all attempt to show the movement of the Angels coming down to take the now blessed and readied soul of the deceased up to Heaven. Like all symbols, they point to a greater reality beyond what we can see. Our belief is that after death, the soul of our departed loved one is simply beginning the next part of their journey toward being reunited with the Father. The Funeral Mass symbolizes this reality after Communion with prayers that speak about the Angels coming down to take up your loved one to Heaven to be with our Father. In this way, the Catholic Funeral is as much about celebrating this future reality as it is about memorializing the past life of your loved one.