ABSTRACT
In 1990 the Order of Christian Funerals was published upon the approval of the Bishops' Conferences of England and Wales and of Scotland and their instruction that its use would be mandatory and exclusive from Easter Sunday 1991. The physical bulk of the volumes was determined by the decision about how to present the funeral rites with the various options. Previously, other churches had normally produced a core liturgy with additional readings and prayers in separate sections or appendices. Comfort and refuge are sought for those who mourn, and the death and resurrection of Christ are set forth as the ground for hope of reunion "with those people love". The pastoral notes accompanying the vigil rite add that this homily is given "to help those present find strength and hope in God's saving word". Where the body has already been received into Church, Mass begins in the normal way as set out in the Roman Missal.
