``God called you home, and he loves you more than we do,'' Suzanne Vitadamo said in a message to her sister delivered before a church overflowing with well wishers.

Many in the crowd of more than 400 who packed the pews of Most Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church were moved to tears as Vitadamo and her brother, Bobby Schind- ler, eulogized their sister.

Parents Bob and Mary Schindler sat in the front row, holding hands during the more than two-hour funeral Mass.

Eight priests and two deacons were present to assist Schindler family spiritual adviser Thaddeus Malanowski as the monsignor led those present, and perhaps 100 more gathered outside, in worship.

Dozens of white Easter lilies and a sea of pastel-colored flowers covered the altar.

Beams from a setting sun shone brightly through stained-glass windows on the church's west side, illuminating paintings of the stations of the cross hanging on the sanctuary's eastern interior wall.

Vitadamo said her father had ``showed the world how to be the kind of parent anyone would be proud of'' during a five-year struggle to keep Terri Schiavo alive.

To her mother, Mary, Vitadamo said: ``All you have ever wanted is to have your children close to you so you could love them. ... Part of your heart went to heaven with Terri.''

Bobby Schindler drew gasps, and tears, when he held aloft an item he said arrived in the mail at his parents' house March 31, the day Terri died.

``I don't know if you can see,'' Schindler said. ``It's a purple heart.''

A Vietnam veteran had sent his medal, the nation's oldest military decoration that is given to those killed or wounded in battle, saying he and his wife wanted Terri to have it, her brother explained.

``Innocence must suffer so that the wicked can be punished,'' Bobby Schindler said, drawing applause.

Hours earlier, the evening began as it was to end, with a reception in the church's community center.

There, hundreds of well wishers - fellow parishioners and total strangers - lined up to meet Terri Schiavo's blood relatives.

``Thank you for coming,'' Bob Schindler said to each person whose hand he shook.

Son-in-law Michael Schiavo, with whom the Schindlers battled for almost seven years over their daughter's fate, was not present.

He and the Schindlers have been estranged since 1993, three years after Terri suffered severe brain damage at age 26. The damage was from lack of blood due to heart failure.

Schiavo won a court order allowing the removal of a feeding tube that had kept his wife alive for the past 15 years.

Schiavo has said he will hold a memorial service and inter Terri's ashes in a Schiavo family plot in the Philadelphia area, where he and his wife grew up, met and married in 1984.

He is under court order to inform the Schindlers of his plans, but as of Tuesday evening there had been no notification, Schindler attorney David Gibbs said as he waited in the reception line.

As the reception drew to a close, the church sanctuary quickly filled to standing room only.

When the appointed hour arrived, an altar boy bearing a tall crucifix led the train of priests down the aisle during the opening hymn, ``Alleluia! Sing to Jesus.''

As the Mass got under way, Vitadamo's daughter, Alexandra Carr, read words of the apostle Paul from the book of Romans.

The Rev. Frank Pavone, another Schindler family spiritual adviser, gave the homily during which he reported that Pope John Paul II was informed of Terri Schiavo's death - on Easter Thursday - before the pontiff himself passed away on the last day of Easter week.

Easter is a time for ``joyful sorrow,'' and that is how Terri's loved ones should approach her loss, Pavone said.

The priest drew the crowd to a standing ovation when he said that everyone who has followed Terri Schiavo's story has the same four words in their heart: ``We are with you.''

The crowd rose in applause a second time when Pavone intoned: ``God calls us to go forth from this place and build a culture of life!'' Minutes later, a small musical ensemble that included two visitors from The Florida Orchestra led the congregation in song, the ``Prayer of St. Francis'' during the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

Many in the crowd then partook of the Communion rite.

Afterward, Michael Vitadamo sang ``You Raise Me Up'' during the Communion meditation.

The service ended with Beethoven's ``Hymn of Joy'' after parish priest the Rev. William J. Swengros gave a Word of Thanksgiving.