Funerals

A Catholic priest most often is involved in guiding the families of the deceased in the proper procedures for the preparation, funeral services and burial rites of their loved ones to ensure that catholic directives are followed correctly. 

A Requiem Mass or Funeral Service is usually used for the funeral.

The funeral Mass or service is usually held in the church where the deceased worshiped.  For enquiries for such arrangements, contact the parish office on (02) 9603 7373.

Columbarium and memorial garden

The Our Lady of Mt Carmel columbarium is the area located on the western side of the Our Lady of Mt Carmel Parish Church, made available by the Parish for the purpose of interment of the ashes of parishioners and for future visitation. It includes the Columbarium and Remembrance Wall and is set in rural and tranquil surrounds that provide an attractive location for grieving, prayer, reflection and meditation.
It is not a public Columbarium, but rather a private Columbarium reserved for the use of parishioners and their families who will know that their loved ones have been laid to rest in sacred ground surrounded by the parish family whom they loved and who loved them in return.

The Columbarium consists of four Memorial Walls with niches for the reception of urns. A niche is the cylindrical space in the Memorial Wall in which an urn, containing the ashes of the deceased person after cremation, is placed. Each wall has 76 niches.

A Memorial Plaque identifying the deceased will be fixed to the designated niche in the Memorial Wall. The type, size, nature and wording of the Memorial Plaque must comply with the Terms and Conditions.
The Remembrance Wall is the curved wall nearest to the exterior of the Church Sanctuary wall. A plaquette (small plaque) containing the deceased’s details can be fixed to this wall (or designated garden edges) as a perpetual memorial. In this situation no ashes are interred.

Those who choose the Columbarium as a final resting place for themselves, or for a loved one, may choose to do so in the knowledge that they:

• Are being laid to rest in the grounds of the parish church that they have loved and served in life, and
• Are near to their church, perpetuating a rewarding and lifelong relationship.

In practical terms, choosing the Columbarium provides:

• The flexibility offered by a cremation in the timing and planning of the disposition of remains,
• The simplicity of the liturgy involved in the placement of the ashes,
• The proximity and convenience of visits by loved ones and periods of reflection,
• The placement of ashes is provided in perpetuity, and
• The lessening of environmental impacts, space issues and permanency of cemetery burial.

Niches and memorial plaques are now available to purchase from the parish office:

• Purchase a columbarium wall niche
• Columbarium terms and conditions
• Wall plaque template