The funeral Liturgy for Clarence Cushnyr was held Friday, February 1st at All Saints Church in Hayward, in the small chapel. It is the same place where I had presided at the marriage of my Mother and Clarence in August of 1996. His three surviving children, Joseph, Phillip and Regina were present with all the grandchildren, two of whom did a marvelous job proclaiming the first two readings. My sister Kathy brought Mom. Our favorite cousin, Craig, was also in attendance, along with many friends of Mom and Clarence from the parish. Many Precious Blood Companions came. I was also surprised by the presence of two CPPS priests from our house in Berkeley who came to concelebrate. The children had chosen the Beatitudes for the gospel and I invited Fr. David Matz, C.PP.S to proclaim it. Having done much preparation for this Sunday’s gospel, I was able to include some of that in my homily for Clarence’s rites. many members of the Parish team came to the funeral, along with some staff from the parish school.
I had asked our DRE to bring her camera because I wanted some pictures of the ossuary. The ossuary is one that I had built for use here at St. Edward. It just seems a bit more reverent to place the urn with the ashes in the ossuary for the service rather than a small box or urn on a table. Our friends at Angel Flowers did a fantastic job preparing the flowers. Donalyn took a few more pictures during the Mass, one of my favorites is a picture of me giving communion to my Mother.
After the service was a simple reception, then we went to the cemetery for the committal, and then out to lunch. I was back at the parish about 3:30pm, in time to prepare for the Evening First Friday Mass.
Requiescat in Pace, Clarence.
