What to Include in The Perfect Mass Booklet

Growing up, my mother always kept a variety of mass booklets from funerals she had attended in a drawer in the living room.  It always seemed strange to me but as an adult I appreciate their value.  She wanted to keep them as a memorial to a loved one that passed. If asked, she could tell you how a particular poem or photo included perfectly memorialized her loved one.  When my father passed, she pulled the mass booklets out gingerly, handed them over to me respectfully, and asked that I draw inspiration from them to write the perfect memorial mass booklet for my Dad. I was honored.

Once I compiled all the information, wrote the text, and developed my ideal layout, I emailed it to a printer.  At the time, they charged me an enormous sum for the "typesetting" in addition to the printing.  I felt insulted.  I spent so much time preparing the perfect mass booklet only to be charged several hundred dollars for typesetting and printing.  After the mass, many people complimented my siblings and me on such a beautiful booklet.  It made me pleased that I was able to pour my love for him into something tangible. I want to help others made the perfect memorial keepsake mass booklet.

What You Need to Make a Funeral Mass Booklet:

1. Great Individual Photo of your Loved One.  Ideally the photo should symbolize him or her at their best.  Think of how they would like to be remembered.  Would they like to be shown sitting on their favorite chair, in a tuxedo reminincent of the big band era, in their wedding dress, in their favorite garden, on vacation? 
2. Full Name of your Loved One: To make it more personal, you may want to put their nick name in quotes., i.e., Joseph “Smiley” Samson
   
   
3. Dates of Birth and Death
   
   
4. Funeral Service Information: Time, Date and Place
5. Burial Location (Place of Internment)
6. Pallbearers' Names
7. Mass Readings:  Passage Numbers
8. Mass Songs:  Titles and Page Numbers

You may also want to include:

• Name of Officiating Individual (priest, pastor, etc.)
  
  
• Surviving Family Members' Names
  
  
• Mass Participants' Names:  Readers, Singers, Servers, Eulogist
  
  
• Brief Biography
   
• Donation Information: Preferred Charities of your deceased Loved One 
• Funny Anecdotes or Quotes of your Loved One
• Words of Gratitude: Written by the Family
• Artwork Created by your deceased Loved One
• Favorite Poem of deceased Loved One
  
  
• Relevant Prayer