The Diocese of Meath and I don't know where it is, Ireland, maybe, that post Catholic country although I am sure with a very faithful remnant who has been to hell and back, has some sane policies concerning the Funeral Liturgies of the Church. You can read them at their website by pressing HERE. Or you can read the content below:
Bishop Michael Smith issues guidelines on the Funeral Mass
Following a discussion at the last meeting of the Council of Priests, I agreed to write to priests in the late summer on our diocesan practice in relation to panegyrics [(I looked it up: a lofty oration or writing in praise of a person or thing; eulogy)] and eulogies at funeral Masses. I would like to express my own personal thanks and appreciation to all for upholding the dignity and intent of the funeral liturgy, often in difficult circumstances.
In a book entitled ‘Eschatology: Death and Eternal Life’ by the then Cardinal Ratzinger (a book well worth reading – published by the Catholic University of America Press) he quotes, with approval, a phrase of the theologian Joseph Pieper who summed up the modern approach to death as ‘the materialistic trivialization of death’. Card. Ratzinger, in this context, goes on to write ‘Death is to be deprived of its character as a place where the metaphysical breaks through. Death is rendered banal so as to quell the unsettling questions that arise from it’.
The funeral liturgy in its prayers and readings has a very clear and intended focus. It is a prayer of petition for the deceased, a prayer commending the deceased to God’s tender mercy and compassion, a prayer rooted in the hope engendered by the Death and Resurrection of Christ. In the directives for the funeral Mass it is stated ‘A brief homily, based on the readings, should always be given at the funeral liturgy, but never any kind of eulogy. The homilist should dwell on God’s compassionate love and on the paschal mystery of the Lord proclaimed in the Scripture readings’.
All priests are asked to uphold the integrity of the Funeral Mass and Funeral Rites. A dumbing down of their integrity does no service to the faith. If family members or others wish to speak about the deceased this can be done at the graveside or when the family and friends gather after the burial.
The following regulations are to be followed at all funerals:
Appreciations or eulogies by family members or friends of the deceased should not take place in the Church but may take place after the Rite of Committal in the cemetery or when the family and friends gather.
The ambo is for the proclamation of the Word of God.
Readings at the Funeral Liturgy should be taken from the Lectionary.
Secular songs, poems and texts devoid of a Christian content are out of place in the Funeral Liturgy.
A post-Communion reflection of a prayerful nature can be given after Communion but this should be agreed beforehand with the Celebrant and should not be used as a cloak for a eulogy.
As is clear from the directives on the Funeral Rite, the deceased should not be canonized in the homily.
If a visiting priest is officiating at the Funeral Mass he should be informed of these regulations and asked to abide by them.
It is important that undertakers in your area are aware of these regulations. It is also important that clear arrangements are in place on the signing of books of condolence. Some priests expressed the view that they should not be allowed in the Church.
Clear arrangements, allowing people the opportunity to offer sympathy to the family of the deceased, should be put in place in each parish.
In some places it seems that the ‘funeral planner’ has made an appearance. Priests should only engage with the family in relation to the Funeral Rite.
MY COMMENTS: What a great bishop! I love this man. I wish he would have spoken about cremation and how in our society it has also trivialized the mortal remains of the Christian body that was a temple of the Holy Spirit. How many priests, and I include myself here, have lamented the fact that people do as they wish now with the remains of their loved or not so loved ones, disposing of them without a Christian burial, and no place to memorialize them in a cemetery that is a symbol of awaiting the Second Coming, the Final Judgement and the resurrection of the dead.
Worse yet, priests feel that they have to bow to every command of those grieving in terms of planning the Mass and its music. Some are so wishy-washy, that they can't tell a grieving family member, that no, a secular hymn will not be sung in this Church at any liturgy let alone a funeral liturgy. We will follow what the Church commands.
I heard recently that in a parish not to far off in the distant land of la, la, that a priest allowed a secular, sappy song at Mass because he was too intimidated to tell the grieving family member that he is boss and he upholds what the Church's law is in terms of liturgy. Why are so many clergy so intimidated and Milquetoast when it comes to these things, is it the loss of the masculine in the Church in favor of the feminine when it comes to pastoral ministry?
5 comments:
Here's a good post from today from a traditional priest on the subject of requiems:
http://www.traditionalcatholicpriest.com/2013/08/14/prepare-for-death-and-plan-your-requiem-mass-before-it-is-too-late/
I like your headline. Sadly, we live in an age in which most pastors insist that their flock stay locked into the cycle of liturgical poverty. It will take strong leadership to break this cycle, and I don't have high hopes that it will come from anyone who labels adherents of the EF as "Pelagians".
A recent news story from my hometown, Thunderbolt, GA, related the facts in the THEFT of a beautiful wooden box from a home that was burglarized.
The contents of the box? The cremains of the homeowners wife.
Please, please, please bury or entomb the cremains of your loved ones.
A town where I once resided had several mausoleums. As a college student, I would sometimes go to one of these mausoleums to study. It was quiet, there were never any visitors and no one would bother me. One day, out of sheer boredom, I walked around the mausoleum and I found a closet. I opened the closet door and noticed several small boxes, about the size of a cigar box. I turned on the light and found that the boxes were all filled with the cremains of various people that had been shipped from elsewhere to be interred in this mausoleum. Some of them dated back to the 1940's. I took away two things from this experience: 1) Don't trust mortuaries, cemeteries, mausoleums or anyone in the "death industries" to do the right thing. Stay on top of them. 2) There's a reason the Church has long discouraged cremation. Don't cremate your loved ones and don't arrange to have yourself cremated.
There is a pretty good movie from around ten years ago called "Bonneville." It is sort of a chick flick, but it is worth watching and has a great cast: Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates, Joan Allen, and Tom Skerritt. The girls take off in Lange's 60's vintage convertible Bonneville (left her by her husband) to scatter her recently deceased husband's ashes. Joan Allen steals the show. Yeah, don't do cremation...LOL!
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