Catholic Burial

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Catholic Burial
Question from on 07-12-2007:
My sister in law is in a nursing home with Alzheimers. She was raised Catholic and raised her own children Catholic. Before she had Alzheimers she became active in a New Age type of christian church. The family is debating if we should have a Catholic mass and funeral for her when she passes or attempt to contact this other church. The rest of the family is Catholic and wants the catholic service but we do not want to go against her wishes- she cannot communicate any wishes on her own at this point. Can we, should we, go ahead and have a Catholic service with the idea that if she was of sound mind at this point, she may have come back to the Catholic church. We also don't want to have a problem with members of the other church. her brother has power of attorney and promised their mother that he would look out for her best interests. ( Their mother was buried last year with a Catholic service)
Answer by Fr. Robert J. Levis on 07-12-2007:
Dear Anon, If her brother has power of attorney over her, it seems he will have the most powerful vote as to the requiem services. Also when in sound mind she elected to enter another religion, it seems she might well be buried as one of this sect. This is a tough decision, very family disruptive. Fr. Bob Levis

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