As we embark upon the month of November – Bishop Libasci calls our attention to the significance of Catholic funeral rites and Catholic cemeteries.
The month of November is traditionally a time in which the Catholic community remembers those who have died. It is related to the fact that the end of November is the end of the Liturgical Year with a new year starting the First Sunday of Advent – the four-week period of preparation before Christmas. The Church, then, uses this end-of-the-year period as a time to think of the end of life and the end of all things and the great hope that our earthly end is transition into a new life in God’s heavenly reality. We remember and give thanks for those who have gone before us, and we look with prayer and hope to their new life in heaven and our desire to join them there one day.
I hope that you will take a few minutes to read more about Catholic funerals and Catholic cemeteries as outlined on the enclosed flyer. There are additional pastoral guidelines and canonical regulation available for your review at the Diocese’s website, www.catholicnh.org under the tab “Funerals and Christian Burials.”
With prayerful best wishes,
Fr. John Mahoney