On Saturday, December 6, 2014 3:40:05 PM UTC-5, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
>
> When my MIL passed, we had the viewing for an hour just before the
> church service. It worked out well as people did not have to go from
> the funeral home to the church to the cemetery.

I have been to a funeral where the body was displayed in the narthex, the family received people for an hour, then a rather extensive funeral the deceased had designed himself, then a BIG feeding of all guests. He was interred the next day in a family only ceremony.

Toughest funeral I ever experienced was for a child. Two afternoons and evenings of wake, then funeral entailing more service at the funeral home, a longish trip to a church with mass attended by many, and then another longish trip to the cemetery. Snow on the ground didn't help matters. Three days were so tough on the family, I wondered if they regretted it.