My dad wants a catholic funeral but I'm not Catholic!

[Totallybannanas]

Only my brother is catholic in the family but not practicing. I have never been to a Catholic mass so have no idea how to plan a funeral and what to expect. I hate funerals and would much prefer a simpler service. Can anyone one advise? I've only been given on Hymm by my dad. Can I include the lord's prayer? He said he would like a catholic priest.

The priest will help you generally. They will suggest hymns and particular prayers and readings.

Did he ever go to mass himself? If so, I’d start be approaching the priest at that church. They will be used to guiding bereaved family members.

I would think that the funeral business can advise you on this . The Priest would probably visit you at home to get some background on DD for the service. I'm sure this happens a lot, practicing or non practicing Catholic.

This is such a difficult time but you don’t have to do this alone. Ask the funeral director to contact the local parish priest or contact them yourself. We plan funerals all the time so we can guide you through it.

Sorry for your loss.

Im sorry for your loss, @Totallybannanas. As above. This must happen all the time, family members planning funerals outside of their own faiths (or lack of). The funeral director and priest will be able to direct you as to the usual run of things.

I will also add that you can have a Catholic funeral without a Mass.

If your father had a church and it is located where you want to hold the funeral, just contact them. They will walk you through everything.

If you need to use a different location, just call the church and explain the situation.

im not Catholic, but I have attended so many Catholic funerals because almost my entire family does follow the religion. It’s not a big deal. You have the funeral appropriate for the deceased.

It’s important to Catholics to have this type of funeral so honor his wishes.

I’m sorry for the loss of your dad.
I am not catholic but my husband was and I’ve recently had to arrange a catholic funeral and burial for him. The funeral director contacted the priest for me as I didn’t feel comfortable doing it. The priest rang me and was really lovely, he sent me some information about catholic funerals, prayers, readings , hymns etc and arranged for me to go and see him. I told him I wasn’t catholic and he was very understanding about it. The service was beautiful , included a full mass as that was what Dh wanted but I could have chosen to not have the mass. I found the whole process very comforting and I’m glad I was able to respect Dh wishes as it was very important to him despite not attending church regularly.