Live Streaming a Funeral at a Lebanese Church in Sydney

Funerals in Sydney's Lebanese churches tend to be large, and many families also have relatives in Lebanon or Syria who cannot get here in time. We film and stream these services so both groups can be part of the day.

Three churches, three traditions

Sydney's Lebanese and Syrian Christian families mostly belong to one of three churches:

• Maronite Catholic. The main churches are St Maroun's Cathedral in Redfern, used since 1897, Our Lady of Lebanon Co-Cathedral in Harris Park, and St Charbel's Church and Monastery in Punchbowl, run by the Lebanese Maronite Order.
• Melkite Greek Catholic. St Michael's Melkite Catholic Cathedral in Darlington follows the Byzantine rite and is in communion with Rome.
• Antiochian Orthodox. St George Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral in Redfern is the cathedral for the archdiocese covering Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines.

Services at all five are in Arabic and English. We film the whole funeral as it happens, every prayer and hymn, and do not interrupt the clergy.

Large funerals and the people who cannot come

These parishes are the centre of big communities. St Charbel's shares its Punchbowl precinct with a K-12 college and a care centre. Our Lady of Lebanon has an aged-care home next door. A funeral can draw parishioners, school families and several generations of one family.

Even so, some people cannot be there: older parishioners who no longer get out, relatives interstate, and family overseas. The live stream is for them.

Family in Lebanon and Syria

Beirut is seven to nine hours behind Sydney, depending on daylight saving, so a morning funeral here happens in the middle of the night there. Most relatives in Lebanon watch the recording when they wake up. It goes up on the same private link within a few hours and stays available for up to twelve months, and the family receives an HD copy to keep.

Families usually send the link by WhatsApp or text. It opens in any web browser, with no app or account.

Filming approval and parking

The clergy decide whether a funeral can be filmed. Your funeral director checks with the parish office or the priest when the funeral is booked. After that we handle everything, using at least three cameras and our own combined 4G and 5G connections.

St Maroun's and St George are both in inner-city Redfern, where parking is mostly on the street. Allow extra time, especially for older mourners.

Booking

Tell your funeral director you would like Stream Catcher, or call 0403 355 445 at any hour. For Greek, Serbian, Russian and Coptic churches, see our guide to live streaming an Orthodox funeral in Sydney. More about how we work is on our funeral live streaming page.