Funeral Choice Checklist
See Funeral Choice Booklet for details
r Gather immediate
family/key friends to discuss plans for funeral
r Appoint someone to
be the overall co-ordinator of the process (to replace the role of a funeral
director)
r Notify the priest/minister/funeral
celebrant
r Decide where and
when the funeral will be held and where the deceased will lie meantime
r Book a time slot at
the crematorium or a grave at a cemetery
r Make up a list of
people needing to be told of the death Ð and tick them off one by one after
they have been informed.
r Who pays for what?
Do we need a fund?
r Do we wish to have
the deceased at home for a period?
r Do we wish to
lay-out the deceased in preparation for burial ie wash, clothe, comb etc
r What clothes do we
want to dress the deceased in?
r Do we wish to
build/have built a casket Ð or shop around and buy one?
r Organise
ritual/liturgy/ceremony eg readings, eulogies, poems, music, prayers
r In some rural areas
it may be possible to dig the grave
r When appropriate,
can we organise to have shovels at hand to fill in the grave?
r What vehicle will
we use to transport the deceased (station-waggon/truck/hire-van)?
r Newspaper notices Ð
who will write and deliver (personal ID required for this person, not the
deceased)?
r Who will gather and
deliver to the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages the two documents
required by law Ð a facts sheet on the deceased, and the death certificate
signed by the doctor.
r Are there
sufficient vehicles for transport to and from the funeral?
r Do we offer hospitality
after the funeral? If so, where? Who organises? Who pays?
(For further
information contact Funeral Choice, P O Box 33-135, Christchurch, or email jim.conse@xtra.co.nz or robert@waitangi.co.nz,
or apply for a free e-book from www.catholicworker.org.nz)