Catholic Funeral Rite is divided into several parts:

• The Vigil Service (Wake)-This is a time for the family, friends and parish community to come together to support each other, to remember the life of the deceased and to commend his or her soul to God.
• Funeral Liturgy (Mass)- This is the central liturgical celebration of the Christian community for the deceased.
• Rite of Committal (Burial or Interment)-This conclusion of the funeral rite is the final act of the faith community in caring for the body of the deceased, an expression of the communion that exists between the Church on earth and the Church in heaven.
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• While cremation has become part of Catholic practice in the United States and around the world the Church clearly prefers and urges that the body of the deceased be present for the funeral rites, since the presence of the body better expresses the values which the Church affirms in those rites?
• Cremated remains must be buried or placed in a mausoleum, not scattered or in other ways dispersed or kept at home.