Scottish Catholic Observer

The funerals of the Polish family who died in a tragic domestic incident in Jersey last month take place this week and next.

“The first funeral Mass will be held in St Thomas’ Catholic Church in St Helier at 10am on Saturday September 24,” Mgr Nicholas France, Catholic Dean in Jersey, said. “It will be for Marta de la Haye, 34, and her daughter Julia, 5). They will be together in the same coffin. This is a practical solution to convey them by road to Poland.

“The purpose of a Catholic funeral is to pray for the deceased that they may find peace and rest in God’s embrace; it also offers to the bereaved the consolations of faith in Christ’s resurrection.”

The Mass will be celebrated in English and Polish by Mgr Nicholas France and Fr Jan Swiatek, Polish Catholic Mission priest in Jersey. Most of the music will be sung by the Polish choir. Later that day the bodies will be taken to Poland by car.

Before the funeral Mass for Marek Gaska, 56, his daughter Izabela Rzeszowska, 30, and her children, Kinga, 5, and Kacper, 2, their bodies will be cremated one by one at private services at the crematorium on Thursday September 29. In the evening. the four caskets of their ashes will rest in front of the altar during the Mass in St Thomas’ Church in St Helier celebrated by Mgr France and Fr Swiatek. The ashes will then be repatriated to Poland for burial.

“Amid the sadness of these last weeks, the good news is that so many people from all parts of the community have rallied round to show their sympathy and support in practical ways,” Mgr France said: “From donations from the community at large, from grants from the States and from generous financial assistance from the Constable and Parish of St Helier, sufficient funds have been raised (in the region of £15,000) to cover all expenses both in Jersey and in Poland, which will relieve the bereaved relatives of any expense at all. The Church, Condor Ferries and others have all waived their fees. The Funeral Directors, Pitcher & Le Quesne, are just covering their costs.”

The relatives of the deceased have asked that donations in lieu of flowers should be given to the island charities Help a Jersey Child and Centre Point Trust.