Ministry of Hope

Lots of things go on behind the scenes here at Christ the King.  One of those is our Ministry of Hope. This is performed by volunteers who meet with a family who has lost a loved one.  They are the "face" of the parish who help a family plan for a funeral mass.  You can see the book they give folks on our web site, www.christthekingparish.com/Funeral.Mass. Sometimes the family is very familiar with the liturgy for a catholic funeral, other times the ministry of hope person helps them to know more about the funeral mass.  The family is encouraged to select readings from scripture, assign readers to proclaim the readings, and to indicate who will bring up the offertory gifts.  Someone may want to offer some brief reflections on the deceased after communion. If so, some guidelines are explained  The family is given a loaf of banana bread or something similar.  It is meant to be a gesture of our solidarity with the family.  No one sees all of this happening except the family itself.  I am very grateful for what these people do behind the scenes.

Msgr Daniel F. Hoye