Memorial or Funeral Rites for GLOs.
 

I wonder how many of your organizations have funeral rites or memorial service rites for deceased members of your groups? Do you do them for any member of your fraternity(women's/men's)? Are they "sectarian" in nature, and where and when are they performed?

Yesterday, my graduate chapter held the Omega (Psi Phi) Funeral Rites at a Catholic Church where the wake was being held for a deceased brother. And we sang the Omega Hymn,"Omega Dear" at the funeral Mass for our brother at the request of the family. We have three types of these ritualistic services:funeral, informal memorial and formal memorial. These exercises are very moving and important for the families and the brothers.
..."and when we say our last goodbye, we'll love Omega Psi Phi.--from last stanza of "Omega Dear" by Dr. W . Mercer Cook and Dr. Charles Drew.

We have an open ceremony that can be performed anytime the member passes. For example, any former national officer who passed on between triennial national conventions is honored at the next convention.

I know that Theta Xi does. I saw it at my friend's father's funeral. It was beautiful. Definitely brought a tear to my eye. They did a ceremony and then sang a beautiful song about the fraternity.

Alpha has its Omega Service.

We also have a Memorial Service which is open and can be done in several different situations. It is done at Convention for sisters who have passed into Chapter Grand also.

Ritual? What ritual?

Yes, ours falls into the "ritual" category as well.

yep, we have one too. i think there is an open one and a closed one. obviously, the open one could be done at a wake or funeral. we also do one at convention to honor all of the members who passed away during the last bienium.

SAE has both a general Memorial Service and a specific Burial Service within its collective Ritual. Both are brief and non-sectarian.

The Memorial Service is frequently conducted at conventions, leadership schools, and the like, and is used to remember all Brothers who have passed. Nothing contained within this rite is anything particularly secret, but the service is generally only held at meetings at which non-members are rarely, if ever, present.

The Burial Service is geared towards a specific loss. This rite can be either public or private, depending on the circumstances (if public, certain supplemental portions are omitted).

There is a Memorial service that can be done at Alumnae functions. We also have a separate service at our Convention for members who have passed during the biennium.

Both of these are considered part of our ritual.

I've participated, sadly, in the Phi Delta Theta funeral ritual. It's one of the few things in our ritual which can be performed with non-members present. It was a heart-wrenching experience, but it moved every attendee at the funeral and was a very touching memorial to my brother...

Until death reunites us...
Jonathan Andrew Phillips
Tennessee Zeta Chapter, Bond #74
January 25, 1984 - February 28, 2003
In coelo quies est

I know Alpha Phi Omega has a ceremony for deceased brothers. It's open so it can be perofrmed at any function, including funerals and viewings, but I've never seen it done outside of the ritual.

Yes.

I know Delta Sigma Pi does, but I don't remember if it's open or closed. I think it's closed though.

I remember wondering as a collegiate if ADPi has that, but I always forgot to ask.

In Alpha Sigma Phi there is a public memorial service. Following the ceremony there is a private and ritualistic ceremony with the membership that I'm not at liberty to discuss in a public forum.

The Masonic Lodge of Sorrow (as performed in Oklahoma) is a public ceremony, and usually done as part of a memorial for all brothers who have passed away in the preceding year. I have had the honor to both witness and participate in it, and it is an extremely moving service; there usually isn't a dry eye in the lodge room when the ceremony concludes.

DST has a closed ceremony done at conferences and conventions for those who passed since the last conference or convention.

We have an open one that is done at the funeral or wake, per family request.

i have no idea if we do or not. One of our original founding members is still alive (she turned 103 this year!! :eek: ), I'm sure we will do something special to honor her memory. One of our most important rituals to honor a past sister is completely public...it's done in the middle of campus.

It can also be done at funerals, though I've not been to one where it has been done. Sadly, we did the ceremony TWICE this year--two times too many, in my opinion :(--once for a chapter founder who we all knew well, another time for a sister initiated in the 70's who died.

I find it touching that if the memorial ceremony is done at a funeral, a red rose is laid on the casket.

Kappa Delta has a public memorial service for members that have passed away. Our chapter sadly held one of these for sister Kimberly Gargano in April 2002. Many members of the Greek community came to support us that night, we were very appreciative.

ADPi memorial rites
 

At the bi-annual convention, we hold a memorial service for sisters who have passed away since the last convention. It is a very moving ceremony.

Co-sign.

But we do have a memorial service in which non-brothers can participate, so I feel little restraint from admitting as much.

Alpha Phi Omega
 

Alpha Phi Omega has a memorial service. It is found in the Ritual Book, but like the installation of officers and meeting opening and closing ceremonies in the book is open to the public. It was added to our ceremonies at the 1994 Convention in Phoenix. It is actually fairly loose so that it may be adapted to anything from being a part to a general memorial for the University to a closed session for brothers.

Randy Finder

So does Alpha Kappa Alpha.

Re: Alpha Phi Omega
 

No wonder I didn't know about that. That was right before my last active semester and (luckily) I haven't had occasion to see it done.

The Delts also have a ceremony that is non-sectarian and can be performed anywhere.

Re: Alpha Phi Omega
 

And who wrote the ceremony?

:)

I wondered about that. It was a topic at Karnea a few years ago, but I didn't know if it was ever completed.

We have a ceremony that is open to anyone. We also do the ceremony at each convention to honor those Alpha Chi's that have passed since the last convention. If you submit a name and date of death, they will read that information before on the list of all of those.

Sadly, the chapter I advise has lost a couple of young sisters (before my time as CA) - I know they held the ceremony for their family members. I think its a very special thing to do to honor the memory of a sister.

Thanks for all the responses! During the past three weeks, I've helped plan and implement two Omega Funeral Rites for departed brothers, one which was done at a funeral home and the other at the church. And as Asst. Chaplain of my chapter, I've helped plan the the annual memorial services (informal and formal) which must be done in March, when our Memorial Day falls. These are meant to be public exercises, possibly including eulogies and a sermon/homily, readings, in addition to the ceremony proper. We usually have a repast afterward.
Back in the early '90s I met up with one of my LBs in LA, when I was going to seminary there. he told me that a few years earlier he attended the annual Memorial Service for one of the LA graduate chapters. he told me that the strangest feeling came over him there. Very soon after that he found out that one of our LBs had died in very tragic manner. That brought home to me anew the true nature of the bonds we share as brothers.

"Omega calls her Sons of Light, her newborn blazing glory; her older heroes honor dight and her immortals hoary to meet and greet and drive all gloom away..."--first stanza of 'Omega Calls Her Sons of Light' by the Rev. Dr. Herman Dreer.

On a side note, I must give Omega props for some REALLY beautiful songs and lyrics. But I couldn't expect anything less from the fraternity of Langston Hughes. :)

Thanks! Yes, as an aside, Omega Psi Phi does have some beautiful songs--both melodies and lyrics. This is not simply an Omega man bragging. I've heard other Greeks(esp. women!:)) say the same. One of things that draws people to our Memorial Services is the singing of our hymn,"Omega Dear', which is the last thing we do. It is a beautiful and moving hymn with crisp, meaningful lyrics and a haunting melody. Yes, not only Langston Hughes, but Dr. Charles Drew, the man most responsible for the development of the use of blood plasma in WWII and a great surgeon/educator and Dr. W. Mercer Cook, Professor of French at Howard Univ. and Ambassador to Senegal (of whom it was said that he spoke English with a French accent!),wrote this song when they were undergrads at Amherst College.

"Que Psi Phi til the day I die!"

It was past in Denver last year ( along with changes to the public and private Ritual books ) although it was pretty much in place unofficially for as long as I can remember.

I think I may have seen one of these. I lost a very good SAE friend in college and the brothers performed a ceremony during the memorial service...it was very touching and really showed how close the chapter had become. Still get goosebumps when I think of that time...

LXA has a Memorial Service that is one of our "open" Rituals. It can be performed as it's own service (for example, the chapter members and other greek members and family, apart from the funeral), or, it can be done during the funeral, or at a graveside service.

It is really up to the family to determine where it would be appropriate.

I've seen it done once at a funeral, and I've participated in one that was done at an on-campus chapel, but was separate from the family's events.

It's short and simple, and reminds all of us to strive for the best in life, for life can be fleeting.