Ask a Priest

Q: If a baby 3 months old, of a Catholic family, dies unexpectedly and has not been baptized yet, can a Catholic funeral Mass be allowed for them?

Debbie Burden
Holy Cross Catholic Church, Madill

A: In short, yes.

The Church in her missionary mandate of mercy manifests care for those who have died. The Order of Christian Funerals opens with a beautiful vision of this care: "In the face of death, the Church confidently proclaims that God has created each person for eternal life and that Jesus, the Son of God, by his death and resurrection, has broken the chains of sin and death that bound humanity.” (OCF, 1) 

In the celebration of the funeral rites, the Church manifests this care not only for the deceased, but also for the relatives and friends of the deceased and for the community of believers who renew their hope in eternal life. Most funerals are celebrated for Catholics who witnessed to their faith throughout life, albeit to greater or lesser degrees. However, the Code of Canon Law considers some cases outside of this norm.

In Canon 1183, it lists three groups of non-Catholics who may be granted a church funeral:
•    Catechumens, i.e. those preparing to receive baptism, “must be counted among the Christian faithful” and thus can receive a church funeral.
•    Infants who died before baptism and “whom the parents intended to baptize” may be granted a church funeral including a Mass with permission of the local ordinary (bishop). “In these celebrations, the Christian community entrusts the child to God’s all-embracing love and finds strength in this love and in Jesus’ affirmation that the kingdom of God belongs to little children (Mt 19:14).” (OCF 237).
•    Likewise, baptized non-Catholics may also receive church funerals including a funeral Mass with permission of the bishop. In the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, Archbishop Coakley regularly grants both these permissions to all priests. (Cf. "Faculties and Directives for Priests of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City," #29-30).

Conversely, the Church deprives three groups of people church funerals and funeral Masses.

“(1) Notorious apostates, heretics, and schismatics; (2) those who chose the cremation of their bodies for reasons contrary to Christian faith; (3) other manifest sinners who cannot be granted ecclesiastical funerals without public scandal of the faithful.” (CIC 1184)

Still, the requirements to fulfill these criteria are very strict, and it is rare that someone is denied a church funeral.

The Church desires to witness to our hope in God’s boundless mercy through the celebration of the funeral rites, and through these rites we announce the power of baptism which makes us God’s children and heirs to his Kingdom.

Father Zachary Boazman
Associate Director of the Secretariat for Divine Worship