A comment from ‘Shocked’ who
had occasion to attend a funeral in this Diocese is now published on Father
Dickson’s previous post below. I had been reflecting upon my own experience of
funerals, so I use the comment of Shocked to introduce my thoughts.
I attended a funeral recently in Hexham and
Newcastle diocese and was dismayed at what took place. For a start there were
no candles around the coffin: there were two small candles on the altar and
that was it. The 'Mass' was introduced as a celebration of the life of the
deceased. The eulogy was delivered immediately after the sermon. During the
sermon the priest said quite emphatically that we do not know if there is a
heaven; we hope there is but we do not know because no one comes back to tell
us. The emphasis was on the word 'know' and that all we had was hope. I was
astounded. At the sign of peace the priest left the sanctuary in order to shake
hands with everyone in the font row, and those in the rows behind were given a
cheery wave. Then we arrived at the Communion. Those who did not wish to
receive holy Communion were told that they could come forward for a blessing.
This blessing could be given by the priest or the 'Special' ministers because
the blessing comes from God and not the individual. If this is the case then
all we need to do is to turn to our neighbours in the pew and bless each other.
But worse was to come: we were told that because people were in mourning then anyone who wished could come forward to receive. It seems to me that the sacred liturgy in this diocese is no longer seen as sacred and 'anything goes' seems to be the rule. It really is about time that our priests were given specific instructions on how to celebrate the liturgy and the limitations on their creativity. I can excuse the younger priests to a great extent because it is quite obvious that they have been badly formed and they know no better, but there is no excuse for older priests who should know better.
The great tragedy was that so many people, cradle Catholics, thought that it was wonderful.
I want to share my experience
of Funerals which demonstrates the wisdom of Bishop Egan in reminding his
Diocese about the norms.
Having been involved in the serving
of funerals for ten years I recall being surprised when setting up the Church
for a funeral and asking Father if there was an Order of Service and which
readings to prepare, to discover he did not know. The deceased’s family had undertaken
all the planning with their guest Celebrant, and Father had been unsuccessful
in trying to contact the said priest by both phone messages and emails.
We have had folk disappointed
over the years at not being permitted to give eulogies; not have photographs on
top of the coffin; no playing of CD’s (one funeral was booked then cancelled
next day because Father had said no to playing Fields of Gold). On the morning of another funeral the deceased’s
family, naturally anxious that all should go as planned, came into Church an
hour before hand to check all was as they had asked. They reminded Father that
he agreed to make the altar people-facing, and stipulated that the altar should
be people-facing and that the ‘big six’ were to be removed. Father pointed out
that the altar had was arranged
people-facing as they had requested, but declined to remove the big six (he did
however, remove two of them, and wondered later if people think six is part of the
Extraordinary Form and that by agreeing to make the altar people-facing the
family had presumed the six would be ruled out). Father told me later he was
profoundly saddened that such a misunderstanding should occur on the very
morning of a funeral. That said, all of this could have been avoided had we
access to an official restatement of norms for the people. We had a funeral
this week where two candles were removed, and as you can see from the
photographs, either way the altar looks impressive enough to house and honour
the Sacred Mysteries for the deceased.
Funerals are a tense time for a
bereaved family (who naturally need to feel in control of their loved one’s
final service) and for the priest (I’ve witnessed that no matter how sensitive a
priest is in saying ‘no’, the refusal can be offensive).
To all you priests out there, I
can see how difficult your care of the bereaved must be. I think it would be useful
if all the Bishops followed Bishop Egan and issued simple reminders of the actual norms which can be given to the
people. Father Dickson does this in the parish as you can see from his previous
post where he includes a pamphlet he designed and makes available in our parish
hall but being Father’s own production, it appears to some as ‘Father G’s way
of doing things’. To prevent any major differences between parishes -and upset
between the bereaved and their priest- I think a common, clear policy spelling
out the actual norms (and not just a
local Bishop’s partiality) is needed for pastoral reasons.
@ Collar and Tie,
ReplyDeleteWhat “shocked” has reported, i.e., a priest saying that we don’t know if there is a heaven because no one came back, (after all Christ came back) is heresy, and Sacrilege, i.e., inviting non-Catholics and presumably some Catholics not being in a state of Grace, to receive Holy Communion.
That cradle ”Catholics” thought this was wonderful shows just how much in the last fifty years the Church has Secularised, and been allowed to. Of course those are the cradle Catholics that have remained. Most have long since walked away from all this.
This is the direct responsibility of the bishop, who I understand is Bishop Seumas Cunningham. He should now put a stop to this priest otherwise he, the bishop, assumes responsibility for heresy and Sacrilege.
The Requiem Mass acknowledges that the soul has gone to Judgement, resulting in either Heaven or Hell, and is a mourning prayer for Mercy. The bereaved may be a bit tense, but I bet the deceased is even more so as he awaits the Judgement!
Father, you should take this up directly with your bishop whatever diocese you are in. He’s not going to sack you. With the rapidly crashing number of priests, you are too valuable!
Tie, good to hear from you again!.
Thanks for the comment.
DeleteThe experience of 'shocked' contradicts the homily I heard recently where three times the priest said the deceased 'is now in heaven'. One of these priests doesn't know if he believes in heaven; another does but doesn't seem to believe in Purgatory. What a mess we are in.
PS I don't blog often because Father does so well, and I'm not sure if I want to say anything that might end up not worth saying.
"He’s not going to sack you. With the rapidly crashing number of priests, you are too valuable!"
DeleteJacobi, that is far too rational - the real world is not so logical. If I were to tell you that one of the fastest growing new religious orders in the world with over 300 priests has been decimated in months, simply because they rubbed the ideologues up the wrong way, I think that would illustrate that nobody is indispensable.
Whenever the prevailing ideology in an institution laughs at logic, reason, truth, goodness and beauty, it is impossible to deal with it in a logical way. I am sure that is not the case in Hexham and Newcastle, but nobody can afford to make assumptions these days. One should always prepare to encounter irrationality at every turn.
@ Deacon,
ReplyDeleteCheer up. The priests have not been bumped off, I hope ?
They can always go and join the steadily growing Traditional orders - which is probably where they will eventually end up anyway!