By Mary Stadnyk | News Editor

Bishop John C. Reiss, who had been present in St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, Trenton, for countless Masses and sacramental celebrations during his years spent as a priest and as a bishop, returned to the Mother Church of the diocese one last time.

Funeral services began the afternoon of March 8 when a casket carrying the body of the eighth Bishop of Trenton was brought to the cathedral for a ceremonial Rite of Reception of the Body prayer service presided over by Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M. Also in attendance was Bishop Emeritus John M. Smith as well as a host of diocesan priests, transitional deacons and seminarians, who formed an honor guard down the cathedral aisle.

The rite started inside the main entrance where Bishop O’Connell met the family members and friends of Bishop Reiss who were gathered at the casket. Bishop O’Connell blessed the casket with holy water and led a prayer acknowledging Bishop Reiss’ baptism into the Church.  Family members placed a funeral pall over the casket, symbolizing the new relationship as a child of God that Christians enter into through Baptism.

“In the waters of Baptism, our brother, John Charles, died with Christ and rose with him to new life. May he now share with Christ eternal glory,” Bishop O’Connell prayed.

The Book of the Gospels was placed on the casket as a sign of Bishop Reiss’ close association with proclaiming the Word of God. Bishop O’Connell then led the casket and the family in a procession to the front of the cathedral where the prayer service continued with a Liturgy of the Word. The reading from 1Corinthians 15:51-57 proclaimed for those present that “death is swallowed up in victory.” Following the singing of the responsorial psalm, “The Living God My Shepherd Is,” the bishop led the congregation in reciting The Lord’s Prayer then offered a final blessing.

Msgr. Sam Sirianni, director of the diocesan Office of Worship, later reflected on the significance of the Rite of Reception of the Body in the Church.  In the liturgy of Christian Burial, the Rite of Reception of the Body “echoes when those to be baptized are brought to church, they are met at the door and received and brought into the heart of the Church,” said Msgr. Sirianni.

It is in the church where the community of faith gathers for worship and where the deceased also worshipped. It is in the church where people enter into new life through Baptism and participate in the celebration of the Eucharist, and during the Rite of Reception of the Body, the church now becomes the place where the community gathers to greet the deceased as one of their own.

 “It is also the last time that the body of the person will enter into the church proper,” added Mercy Sister Eleanor McCann, associate director, diocesan Office of Worship.

Bishop Reiss was vested in the navy blue and cream-colored chasuble and miter that he wore for the first time at the celebration of the diocesan centennial in 1981. He wore the vestments when then-Mother Teresa of Calcutta attended Mass in the cathedral June 18, 1995, as well as for other major diocesan celebrations such as the ordinations of priests and deacons.  

Msgr. Sirianni said that Bishop Reiss’ chalice, which was given to him on his ordination as a priest, as well as his pectoral cross and ring, which were given to him on his ordination as a bishop, will become part of the patrimony of the diocese. Bishop O’Connell was to wear Bishop Reiss’ pectoral cross and ring and carry the crozier during the March 9 Mass of Christian Burial, Msgr. Sirianni noted.

As members of various Knights of Columbus Councils, including those from the Bishop Ahr Assembly and Bishop Griffin Assembly Fourth Degree kept vigil by Bishop Reiss’ casket during the public viewing that was held until the start of the Mass of Jesus the High Priest later that evening, Knight Gino Melone recalled Bishop Reiss’ membership in the Trenton Council, Knights of Columbus.

“We were honored that he was part of our council,” said Melone, past Grand Knight of the Trenton Council, and member of Our Lady of Sorrows-St. Anthony Parish, Hamilton. “Bishop Reiss will always remain in our thoughts, our hearts and our prayers. May he rest in peace.”