Funeral & Memorial Masses
The priests and staff at St. Joseph's parish would like to express their condolences during this time of loss for you and your family. Whenever we lose a loved one, it is important for family and friends to come together and comfort one another. It is also important to come together as men and women of faith. As believers in Jesus Christ, we know that for those who die, life has only changed, not ended. It is our prayer that your loved one is now at peace in the merciful arms of Jesus Christ.
This section of our webpage has been created to help you in planning for your loved one's funeral Mass. Please take a few moments reviewing each of the sections below. It is our hope that you will be able to offer the priest some information about the deceased as well as choose readings and music for the funeral Mass. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the parish office at 631-269-6635 or email us atThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
As part of the process, a priest or deacon will come to the funeral home to pray with your family the day before the Mass, usually in the afternoon. At that time, he will be happy to answer any questions you may have. Please note that if you plan on having words of remembrance or a eulogy, it is to be offered at the wake service when the priest or deacon finishes. It is our policy that this is not done at the funeral Mass.
Please know that you are in our prayers as you grieve. If there is anything you need, please do not hesitate to ask.
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Getting Started
In preparing for your loved one’s funeral, we ask that you plan the funeral Mass and provide some information about the deceased. Please download the planning sheet below to get started.
With regard to the deceased, it would be most helpful to the priest celebrating the Mass if you could provide some personal information about the deceased (pages 2 and 3 of the planning sheet). Please take some time to fill out this background information sheet. We ask that you be honest and thorough in your responses so that the priest can have an accurate portrait of the deceased. This information will help him in preparing his homily at the wake and funeral Mass.
As you fill out this form and reflect on your loved one, it is our hope that your thoughts will help you to pick scripture readings for the funeral Mass. The next section will provide you with the suggested readings and other elements to plan the funeral Mass.
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Planning the Funeral Mass
If you have not already done so, please download the planning sheet under the Getting Started section above.
The first page is where you will record your selections for the Funeral Mass. The link below will provide you with all the Scripture readings from which you may choose. Please choose one reading from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament. For each reading you may also choose a family member to read it.
Reading Selections Prayer of the Faithful Selections
After the homily, the priest will offer the petitions. Please indicate the names of other family members you would like to pray for during these prayers. After the petitions, you may have up to four family members bring up the gifts of bread and wine at the offertory.
You may also choose four hymns to be sung during the funeral Mass. Please click on the next section to see the music selections available and listen to a brief clip of each song.
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Funeral Music
If you have not already done so, please download the planning sheet from the Getting Started section above.
Our music director is Deanna Muro and she would be happy to work with you on making music selections. You can call her at 631-269-6635, x-218 or email her atThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. If you are considering outside musicians or songs other than the ones listed here, please discuss it with Deanna before making any arrangements.
With the deceased in mind, we ask that you choose up to 4 songs that will be played during the Mass. Our music director has compiled a list of suggested songs from which you can choose. If you are not sure about a particular song, we have provided the clips below as a sample of each song.
Song Name Audio Clip 1 Abide With Me 2 All Is Well in my Soul 3 Alleluia, Sing to Jesus 4 Amazing Grace 5 Ave Maria (Bach/Gounod) 6 Ave Maria (Schubert) 7 Be Not Afraid 8 Fly Like a Bird 9 For All the Saints 10 Go In Peace 11 Hosea 12 How Great Thou Art 13 I Heard the Voice of Jesus 14 I Know that My Redeemer Lives 15 Lord of All Hopefulness 16 O Loving God 17 On Eagle's Wings 18 Panis Angelicus 19 Prayer of St. Francis 20 Precious Lord Take My Hand 21 Shepherd Me O God 22 Sing with All the Saints in Glory 23 Softly and Tenderly 24 Take and Eat 25 The King of Love My Shepherd Is 26 The Lord is My Light 27 Where My Father Lives -
Livestreaming
The Church of St. Joseph has the capacity to livestream Masses in the church. For an offering of $25.00, your loved one's funeral Mass can be live-streamed to allow family and friends who are unable to attend in person to still participate. This can easily be arranged by your funeral director or contacting the parish office. The livestream will be added to the schedule and will begin automatically a few minutes before the funeral is scheduled to start.
Please note that the video file remains in the archive for 1 month. If you would like to download the file following the funeral, please send a request to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and a link will be sent to you.
If you have come to this page looking to view a particular funeral, please go to our livestream page.
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