I cannot express how sad this makes me. Not sure what to make of them going forward with the funeral with JC still missing. There's no timing issue for burial with Catholics but I'm sure this family is suffering and there can be great comfort in the ritual of the funeral mass. God bless them while they deal with this nightmare.
Jmo.
It could be that they are more traditional Catholics, who tend to bury their loved ones very quickly. I don't know if that's the case here, but the Catholic church does still generally recommend funerals to take place as quickly after death as arrangements can be made. This practice may vary from place to place, though.
Where I live, it is the norm for Catholic funerals to be held within two days of the person dying. A week would be considered a very long time to wait and that would only generally happen if a postmortem was required or a close family member needed time to travel from overseas to attend.
Having a funeral weeks or months later is pretty much unheard of here (Ireland).
So perhaps — if they are a more traditional congregation — that is their custom in that particular community and it would be upsetting for the family to delay the funeral mass indefinitely. It is very sad that Jayme cannot attend but hopefully in the future, if she's safely found, she can attend a memorial mass for her parents. Fingers crossed.
