Colette Moore
1947 - 2008

Opening Hymn:        Here I am, Lord
First Reading            Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.11
Responsorial Psalm    Be not Afraid (Sung)
Second Reading       2 Timothy 4:6-8
Offertory Hymn:       In Bread we bring you, Lord
Communion Hymn:   I watch the sunrise
Recessional:            To do Your Will

I welcome you to this funeral liturgy for Colette. We are praying today for Paddy and her family.

Death is always a shock; even more so when it’s the death of someone close to us who has died long before her time. We all come here to remember a lady, to give thanks, even in our grief, for her life, to offer each other, and especially those who will most miss her, the consolation of our love and our presence with you today; and to offer also the promise of eternal life.

Our consolation will be the happy memories we have of Colette; our sadness is that she has gone from us. Our sure Christian hope is that the Lord our God will welcome her home and that one day we will be united together in heaven. In the depth of our loss and hope we now pray and offer this Eucharist for Colette.

We come to God, knowing we need his mercy and forgiveness, and so in preparing to celebrate the Mass we call to mind our sins.

 

Lord, you suffered and died in our name. Lord have mercy.

 

Lord, your heart was moved with compassion for the sick and the bereaved. Christ have mercy.

 

Lord you suffer with your people at the right hand of the Father. Lord have mercy.

And may almighty God, have mercy on us, forgive us our sins and bring us to life everlasting.

 
Let us pray:

Almighty God and Father of all, you strengthen us by the mystery of the cross and with the sacrament of your Son’s resurrection. We pray for COLETTE grant her peace. Welcome him to the eternal joy of the kingdom and give us all new hope in our sorrow that one day we shall all be with you and with each other in your home where every tear will be wiped away. Grant, this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

We gather here today in sadness with the family of Colette Moore. Our thoughts are for you. We ask God to send his consoling Spirit to bring his peace to your hearts and to your homes. We give thanks to God for the life that he gave Colette and pray in faith that he will welcome her home to everlasting happiness in heaven.

There is as the Scriptures remind us, a time for every season under heaven. As we gather in Gilford Church we reflect on the mystery of time and providence that are in God’s hands: there is indeed a time to die, a time to weep, a time to mourn, a time to keep silence, a time to speak, a time to love.

Holding a vigil for Colette in Craigavon Hospital and Newry Hospice before she died Paddy and her family has shared memories of who she was and what she meant to them. We mourn her passing, we cherish her memory. Above all you have remembered the humanity of a good person. Today as we gather in sorrow to remember Colette. A burden of pain, burden of loss, burden of grief weighs heavily on you all. We gather as a community - our presence here today is our way of reaching out to you.

Colette was born Colette Mc Kevitt, she came from Aughramoira, Burren, daughter of Patrick and Lily Mc Kevitt. She attended school in St. Clare’s, Newry and St. Mary’s in Newry. Leaving school she was a stitcher working in Newry in Taylor’s factory.  She was totally devoted to her husband Paddy whom she met at a Joe Dolan dance in the Adelphi, Dundalk:

“I’m in love with a girl who lives in a house with a white-washed gable.”

 They married in Burren 34 years ago. They settled down in Gilford, firstly in Hill Street, then Castleview and finally in Dunbarton Street She worked in the Mayfair and again in Tandragee She was only 2 years married when she contracted cancer but thank God she came through it well. Colette had great outdoor pursuits – walking her dogs, going to look at motorbike racing all over the country, from Dundrod to Skerries; joining Paddy when he went shooting; she was an active member of the Dunbarton Bowling Club; she enjoyed all the craic and the fun.

We remember a lovely person with a great sense of humour, a lady who was a treasure to you all. Letting go of her today is not going to be easy for Colette was a great lover of family, people and life itself. Thank you to all who cared for her and loved her in life. Sadly the cancer returned five months ago. Now her suffering is over. As Colette has died now a part of you dies as well. You are filled with sorrow because her death leaves a gap that no-one else can fill adequately. When we remember her today we cannot help recalling the things she said and the way she said them, the things she did and her way of doing them but sadness is tinged with hope and expectation. We pray that she is with the Lord and we look forward to the day when we will be reunited with her. Christ’s resurrection assures us that if we follow him we will rise again.  It is only with death that life really makes sense, it’s our leap into eternity, it is God calling us home to be with him forever. At a time like this we come face to face with our own mortality.

Living a truly Catholic life is about waiting in hope and as people of hope we believe in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Colette’s period of waiting is now over and the reason she could see purpose in the pain or sense in the suffering was because Jesus Christ came on this earth to conquer death and save us from our sins.

She brought love, care and friendship to those who knew her. She died after her strength could no longer meet the challenge of life. Today then we bid farewell to Colette. Despite your sense of loss, you will face the future with courage and hope, knowing that that is what she would want you to do. We comfort one another in the sure confidence that for Colette life has changed, not ended. We also derive comfort from the conviction that she is at peace with God.

With Fr. Mc Donagh, and the entire parish community I would like to extend our heartfelt sympathy to her loving husband Paddy, sisters Bridget, Peggy, Carmel, Theresa, Barbara brothers Sean and Jim, brothers in law, sisters in law, her nephews and nieces to whom she was very close to and family circle. May her gentle soul rest in peace.