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cemeteries in South San Francisco, CA

What Is a Committal Service?

Prior to burying their loved ones in cemeteries in South San Francisco, CA, families will often hold funerals for them at churches, funeral homes, and other establishments. But those won’t always be the only kinds of services that families will stage for their loved ones. Once they get to cemeteries, they’ll also sometimes hold committal services for them. So, what is a committal service, and why should your family think about staging one? Find out below.

What are committal services?

Committal services are services that are held right before people are placed into burial plots and buried in South San Francisco, CA memorial park cemeteries. There are different types of committal services that can be held, such as military committal services or Catholic committal services. But regardless of which kinds of committal services families choose to hold, they’ll be designed to help them say their goodbyes to their loved ones just before their burials take place.

Why should your family hold a committal service for a loved one?

You and your family don’t necessarily have to hold a committal service for a loved one if you don’t want to do it. You’re welcome to bury a loved one without one. But by staging a committal service for a loved one, you’ll give your family the opportunity to say your goodbyes to them. You’ll also be able to use special prayers, readings, and songs to pay tribute to your loved one for the final time. You might even want to allow a few family members to say some parting words to a loved one to provide everyone else with peace of mind as they’re laid to rest.

Where should you hold a committal service for a loved one?

As we alluded to earlier, you’re going to hold a committal service for a loved one in a cemetery. But there are a couple of different spots where you can stage it. You can have a committal service for a loved one right next to the place where they’re going to be buried. Some cemeteries also have chapels that could prove to be the perfect places for committal services. You and your family will have to decide which of these two options will work best for a loved one’s committal service.

cemeteries in South San Francisco, CA

How long will a committal service take?

A committal service isn’t going to be as long as a funeral is. Generally speaking, most committal services only last for between 10 and 20 minutes. With that being said, the total time that a committal service takes will depend on how many different elements you want to cram into it. If you would like to have a variety of prayers, readings, songs, etc. included, it could cause a committal service to run for a little longer than usual. You and your family will need to decide how long you would like the committal service for your loved one to be.

At our South San Francisco, CA cemetery, we have not one, not two, but three chapels that families can use for committal services. We can also help families to stage committal services near their loved one’s burial plots. Reach out to us now to hear more about planning a committal service for a loved one.

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