Requiem held for Queen Elizabeth II

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (KAUZ) - In honor of the life and service of Queen Elizabeth II. A Wichita Falls church held a special gathering. Church of the Good Shepherd held a requiem mass to honor the Queen’s life and legacy.

As an Anglican church, Good Shepherd is descended from the church of England, so they felt it was only right to hold a special mass to allow residents to celebrate the Queen’s life and her role in the church.

“We are doing what’s called a requiem mass for Queen Elizabeth II, who just recently passed away,” Brian Chase, Rector for Church of the Good Shepherd said. “Requiem mass is commonly done for the departed and us being an Anglican church we thought it was appropriate to do one for Queen Elizabeth since she passed away.”

Anglican means English, so being an Anglican church, the Church of the Good Shepherd wanted to honor its former “governor of the church” and “defender of faith”.

“We thought we’d provide, being an English church, an opportunity for people to come and celebrate the queen and her life and role in the church,” Chase said. “The title given to her was, the governor of the church and defender of the faith, so that’s still an important role.”

This requiem mass has everything you would expect in a mass just with a focus on the remembrance of the ones lost.

“One of the most obvious changes is we have a catafalque which sort of looks like a coffin,” Chase said, “I guarantee you it is not a coffin there is nobody in it, but it is just sort of a remembrance of the presence of those departed and helps to bring a sense of memorial to them as well.”

As not everyone may be a royalist. The Rector of the church believes this mass still has something to offer everyone.

“I think that a requiem mass still has a lot to offer all of us,” Chase said. ”To help us to work through experience that’s common to everyone. We all have people that pass away and I think that we can all do better grieving. I think the church’s symbols help us to do that in a practical and meaningful way.”

If you didn’t have a chance to attend the requiem today, Chase says, they still have mass every Sunday and everyone from the community is welcome to attend.

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