Can a mormon have a funeral in the Catholic Church?

[turtleoompa]

My friend is Mormon and married a Catholic in the Catholic Church.She agreed to raise the kids Catholic. She will go to Mass with her family most of the time when her husband is in town. She cannot take Communion. She does not go to the Mormon church, but sometimes they come to her house. If she dies can they have a funeral Mass in the Catholic Church? My husband says no.

 

[Sabda]

If she is willing to do all that than is she willing to become Catholic? To answer your question, since she is not Catholic then, to my knowledge, no she can not have a Catholic funeral. A Catholic funeral includes the celebration of the Mass.

 

[flameburns623]

I am doubtful as well. Though in some parishes the non-Catholic MAY be allowed to be buried alongside the Catholic spouse. My stepfather, baptised a Catholic but raised a Pentecostal. (His mom was a Catholic but after she separated from her husband, she left my step-dad in the care of an aunt and uncle), was buried in the Catholic cemetery even though he never remembered ever attending Mass.

As far as I know this was a family plot and the local priest consented to allow family members to be buried together. I believe my stepdad was buried near his aunt and uncle, and I believe the uncle was also Catholic but my stepdad’s aunt definitely never was, and she was the primary religious influence on my stepdad. Her denominational affilliation was something on the order of ‘Full Gospel’ though she attended just about any sort of pentecostal revivalist service around.

I know the funeral and graveside service for my step-dad were conducted by a Pentecostal pastor, with nary a Catholic priest around. My guess is that there are regulations governing all of this but I’m not Catholic and can only hope someone else is aware of them and can clarify further.

 

[Rocky]

We have a parishioner whose very elderly non-Catholic mother died a little while ago. A priest came to the funeral home and said a memorial Mass for her at the end of the wake. She was buried the next day, and I do not know if the priest went to the graveside to bury her, but she was buried next to her Catholic husband.

 

[water]

I thought the main question of the OP is

If she dies can they have a** funeral Mass in the Catholic Church**?

It is different than where she gets buried.
I don’t have answer for it, but I don’t think she can have a funeral Mass in the Church.

 

[Catholig]

If she is willing to do all that than is she willing to become Catholic? To answer your question, since she is not Catholic then, to my knowledge, no she can not have a Catholic funeral. A Catholic funeral includes the celebration of the Mass.

Yeah, if she will raise the kids catholic, stop going to a mormon church, and go to a Catholic one instead what is stopping her from becoming catholic?

Catholig

 

[Hellisreal]

Is she dying? If so, maybe the Priest can speed up a private RCIA for her somehow. That would be the best solution to this problem.

 

[1ke]

My friend is Mormon and married a Catholic in the Catholic Church.She agreed to raise the kids Catholic. She will go to Mass with her family most of the time when her husband is in town. She cannot take Communion. She does not go to the Mormon church, but sometimes they come to her house. If she dies can they have a funeral Mass in the Catholic Church? My husband says no.

No, an unbaptized person is not counted among the Christian faithful, unless they were enrolled as a Catechumen at the time of their death.

Here is the relevant canon law:

THOSE TO WHOM ECCLESIASTICAL FUNERALS MUST BE GRANTED OR DENIED

Can. 1183 §1. When it concerns funerals, catechumens must be counted among the Christian faithful.

§2. The local ordinary can permit children whom the parents intended to baptize but who died before baptism to be given ecclesiastical funerals.

§3. In the prudent judgment of the local ordinary, ecclesiastical funerals can be granted to baptized persons who are enrolled in a non-Catholic Church or ecclesial community unless their intention is evidently to the contrary and provided that their own minister is not available.

Can. 1184 §1. Unless they gave some signs of repentance before death, the following must be deprived of ecclesiastical funerals:

1/ notorious apostates, heretics, and schismatics;

2/ those who chose the cremation of their bodies for reasons contrary to Christian faith;

3/ other manifest sinners who cannot be granted ecclesiastical funerals without public scandal of the faithful.

§2. If any doubt occurs, the local ordinary is to be consulted, and his judgment must be followed.

Can. 1185 Any funeral Mass must also be denied a person who is excluded from ecclesiastical funerals.

 

[Ravyn_Guiliani]

No, an unbaptized person is not counted among the Christian faithful, unless they were enrolled as a Catechumen at the time of their death.

that is right. Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses’ baptism are not valid because they are not done properly in Trinitarian formula or spirit.

Ravyn (who was baptized by both before REALLY getting baptized!)

 

[Linuse]

I think a lot of misinformation is given here. I was faced with this possibility with a Baptist the first year after ordination. We were not as open to the possibility at that time. Yet, at the Baptist person’s request (his wife had died some time previously, his two oldest boys were Catholic, the other five children were Baptists.) the Bishop said I should proceed with the Catholic funeral in the Catholic Church–full service including Mass. His own statement about becoming Catholic before he died, “I’m not ready to do that yet. But I do want a Catholic Funeral if it is possible.”
Since then I have had several other funerals–with full Catholic services–of people who were not Catholic.
I would not be surprised if I am asked to do so again. And, depending on the circumstances, I am likely to have another some time in the future.
The funeral is a time to open doors of faith for the living or to close them–sometimes slamming them in the families face. It’s our choice to “bury the dead” or not.

 

[1ke]

I think a lot of misinformation is given here.

What misinformation is that, specifically?

I was faced with this possibility with a Baptist the first year after ordination. We were not as open to the possibility at that time.

You do not specify when “at that time” was. If it was before 1983, then you would have been under the Code of Canon Law of 1917. I do not know what the canon law was at that time, but I have posted the canons currently in force.

Yet, at the Baptist person’s request (his wife had died some time previously, his two oldest boys were Catholic, the other five children were Baptists.) the Bishop said I should proceed with the Catholic funeral in the Catholic Church–full service including Mass. His own statement about becoming Catholic before he died, “I’m not ready to do that yet. But I do want a Catholic Funeral if it is possible.”

That’s a nice story, but it’s not relevant to the OP’s question.

A Baptist is a Christian. A Mormon is not. The Canons clearly allow for a non-Catholic Christian to have a Catholic funeral. It does not allow for an unbaptized person to have a Catholic funeral unless they are enrolled as a Catechumen at the time of their death.

See relevant canon:

§3. In the prudent judgment of the local ordinary, ecclesiastical funerals can be granted to **baptized **persons who are enrolled in a non-Catholic Church or ecclesial community

It’s our choice to “bury the dead” or not.

No, it’s not your choice. It is only the Bishop who can give this permission, and only for a baptized non-Catholic:

§3. In the prudent judgment of the local ordinary, ecclesiastical funerals can be granted to **baptized persons **who are enrolled in a non-Catholic Church or ecclesial community

 

[Hellisreal]

1 ke can really **end **a controversy.