Celebration of a loved one’s life

The celebration of loved one’s life after they have died is a sad reality that we all face and is also an important spiritual celebration in the church. A funeral can be organised at either of our churches following the death of a loved one. 

Arranging this can be made in two ways either by visiting a funeral director and expressing your wish to have the funeral in our church and then they can negotiate the date and time with us. Or you can contact the parish priest first to ascertain availability options before visiting the funeral director. 

These days there is no particular rush to organise the funeral quickly. It will usually take place 1-2 weeks following the loved one’s death. Sometimes it can be delayed longer to allow attendees to travel from interstate or overseas. 

Once the date and time has been arranged the next of kin family members will meet with the priest to plan the service. Anglican Funeral service provides a flexible structure where personalised elements like eulogies, photos, music, readings, symbols and memorabilia can be included. You can discuss all this with the member of clergy. 

St Peter’s church has facilities to show audiovisual slide shows and play music. We do not currently have live-streaming facilities but the funeral director and assist you with arranging this. 

St Peter’s also has a Memorial Garden and should you wish you can organise an interment with us at a future date following the funeral. Please see the section on this website about the Memorial Garden for more details. 


Deceased Instructions

Sometimes people like to leave instructions as to what they would like included in their funeral (like hymns, readings and so on). If people indicate this to us whilst they are still living we keep those instructions on file and will refer to them in the funeral planning. We always encourage people to make these wishes known to their next of kin as well. 


Fees

The basic fee for the church is $300 which includes the provision of up to 100 copies of a funeral booklet. 

There is usually a clergy fee of $315.

If an organist is required we can ask our parish organists about their availability or the funeral directors can arrange this. An Organist’s fee of around $250 will apply. 

Catering of tea, coffee and biscuits can be provided in our parish community centre after the funeral if required for an extra cost. $400 for up to 100 people.