Special Sections

(CNS) — Today more than ever, Christian families need to pay witness to and promote the irreplaceable value of life and the family based on marriage between a man and a woman, Pope Benedict XVI said. "The best service that we Christians can offer today’s society," the pope said, is being "people who are free and rich with human and Gospel values and who are on a journey toward holiness."

I was just 8 years old when I first experienced the death of someone close to me. My maternal great-grandmother, Agnes Boennighausen, passed away in November of 1985 after suffering heart problems. Her death was my first memory of what it was like to go to a wake and funeral Mass and to lose someone whom I loved very much.

Many funeral homes are using modern technology to provide new ways to serve their clients in making visitation and funeral arrangements.

Through Internet websites, deceased loved ones can be memorialized, and the information can be viewed by friends and relatives all over the globe. And while photo displays at wakes have been common for years, technology allows more advanced uses for pictures and other personal mementos.

At funeral homes associated with the Dignity Memorial network, clients can purchase a MEM, Making Everlasting Memories.

"The MEM is utilized to celebrate a person’s life," explained Donald W. Daugherty, general manager of Colonial Mortuary-Hoffmeister-Kriegshauser Funeral Directors, a Dignity Memorial member.

"When we meet with a family, we ask them to bring in photos, awards, whatever would be important to that person," Daugherty said. "Then we make moving memories."

Cemeteries administered by the Catholic Cemeteries of the Archdiocese of St. Louis reported 2,466 burials in those cemeteries during the fiscal year July 1, 2007, to June 30 2008.

CALVARY in North St. Louis, with 477 acres, is one of the oldest cemeteries, dating from 1854. It was the busiest cemetery, with 928 burials last year.

RESURRECTION in Affton, with 302 acres, was founded in 1929. It was the second busiest, with 852 burials.

STS. PETER AND PAUL in South St. Louis, with 88 acres, dates from 1864. Last year there were 195 burials.

Training materials in Spanish and an expanded presence on the web are just two of the up-and-coming developments from the National Catholic Ministry to the Bereaved.

Founded in 1990, NCMB offers pastoral and spiritual support to the bereaved, caregivers, agencies, congregations, dioceses and others who work in bereavement ministry through education efforts and a bank of resources. Its headquarters are located at the Maria Center on the campus of the School Sisters of Notre Dame motherhouse in Lemay.

NCMB also uses as its foundation the Order of Christian Funerals, developed by the U.S. bishops to define and provide guidelines for the rite of passage from death into eternal life. The text includes four main parts: the vigil for the deceased and related rites, the transfer of the body to the church, the funeral Mass or liturgy outside of Mass and the Rite of Committal.

Ingrid Seunarine, named president of NCMB earlier this year, told the Review that a Spanish-language manual for its ministry of consolation training program recently was published. The effort took about three years to complete, said Seunarine, who also is the director of bereavement services for the Diocese of Brooklyn, N.Y.

The Catholic Cemeteries of the Archdiocese of St. Louis offers a grave-decoration removal service at all of its locations.

Decoration removals will take place on the second Wednesday and Thursday of the month from February through November. Removals will begin at 7:30 a.m. There will be no removal period in December or January to allow more time for holiday memorials to remain at grave sites.