A very apt letter on funerals...

From the letters page of Irish Times:

Madam, - Last year I returned to Ireland for the funeral of my late father. He was a practising Catholic and his funeral took place in his local parish church.

At that time we had hoped that several pieces of Dad's favourite music might form part of the celebration, as well as a short tribute from my eldest brother.

We encountered a young(ish) priest who while extremely polite and sympathetic absolutely refused to permit any "secular" elements in the Mass, quoting liturgical correctness as the main reason. While deeply unhappy, we had no option but to acquiesce. I was enraged therefore to see that Ronnie Drew had a "send-off" like no other complete with a congregational rendering of Wila wila wallya, and all presided over by an auxiliary bishop of Dublin. Perhaps celebrity ensures an appropriately robed bishop as chorus master.

It is either permitted or not to have "secular elements" and one's status should have no bearing on the matter. This is another example of the hypocrisy which is turning many from holy mother church. - Yours, etc,

LAURENCE LACEY, Rue de Blayes, Toulouse, France.

It's difficult not to sympathise with the letter-writer in this case. Many of our dioceses have regulations about acceptable music and the giving of eulogies at funerals. They're sensible, and mean that the deceased and the bereaved receive the benefit of the Church's liturgy and the care of the parish community. Whether clergy are applying these regulations consistently or not is another issue.
For those who do, it's therefore disheartening when celebrity and political funerals come along which don't seem to follow best practice. It gives the impression that the Church has one set of rules for the famous and another for the ordinary man. It obscures the fact that all are equal before the judgement of God. It diffuses a misleading and false impression about what the funeral liturgy is, and gives rise to unreasonable expectations about what is acceptable in a Catholic Church. Pastorally, it makes the planning of funerals more traumatic than it need be, and (as in this case) has the potential to upset the bereaved who will feel that they have been treated unjustly by their local priest.
Adherence to the rubrics is about more than a desire for the abstract value of 'liturgical correctness' - rather, it is also an eminently pastoral approach which is aimed at giving the People of God the benefit of the Church's liturgy.

I didn't see any of the media coverage of Ronnie Drew's funeral, so I can't really say how out-of-line the liturgy was. Nor, in these cases, is every detail of the liturgy approved by the presiding cleric in advance. Sometimes these things can be 'sprung' on a celebrant. One can hardly imagine the idea of Weela weela wallia being sung in a church being approved by anyone with a sensitivity to the liturgy.