Clapping at a funeral

[gourmet]

During my mother-in-laws eulogy at a funeral liturgy the person giving the eulogy asked everyone to stand and clap for her for a life well lived. Was this proper? I know Benedict and PiusX have spoken out against any applause in church but wanted to know if there was any other information.

 

[lizaanne]

A funeral mass should never contain a eulogy - it is not the appropriate forum for eulogizing someone. This can/should be done perhaps at the funeral home before Mass, or at the luncheon afterward.

EDIT: I’m sorry, I’m forgetting my manners. I’m sorry for your loss, may her soul rest in the peace of Christ.

~Liza

 

[kermitz06]

I agree with Liza, well meant perhaps but not in the right place.
R.I.P.

God Bless!

 

[Leonius]

During my mother-in-laws eulogy at a funeral liturgy the person giving the eulogy asked everyone to stand and clap for her for a life well lived. Was this proper? I know Benedict and PiusX have spoken out against any applause in church but wanted to know if there was any other information.

No its not proper the idea of celebrating a persons life is a protestant one which stems from their denial of purgatory and the need to pray for the dead.

Celebrating the dead persons life does absolutely no good to the soul of the dead person and is really all about the living having a good time and feeling good about themselves by distracting themselves from the reality of death.

You might find this useful at this time: Mourning to comfort the bereaved and pray for the dead.

I will say a prayer for your mother in law and may God comfort you during this time of grief.

 

[rpp]

As for a “eulogy”, is it proper after Mass has finished for someone to get up and say a something along those lines? If it is not proper, since Mass has already finished, why not? I mean we get announcements after Mass.

As for applause, I suppose it depends on the person. I myself find it belittling to the deceased. So I guess my answer would depend on who the funeral was for.

 

[JaMc]

During my mother-in-laws eulogy at a funeral liturgy the person giving the eulogy asked everyone to stand and clap for her for a life well lived. Was this proper? I know Benedict and PiusX have spoken out against any applause in church but wanted to know if there was any other information.

Was she, by any chance, Italian? I recall when they announced the death of JP II many in the crowd broke out in applause, and the news commentator stated that it is an Italian tradition. Granted, it was not during the funeral liturgy.

 

[Lujack]

No its not proper the idea of celebrating a persons life is a protestant one which stems from their denial of purgatory and the need to pray for the dead.

Celebrating the dead persons life does absolutely no good to the soul of the dead person and is really all about the living having a good time and feeling good about themselves by distracting themselves from the reality of death.

You might find this useful at this time: Mourning to comfort the bereaved and pray for the dead.

I will say a prayer for your mother in law and may God comfort you during this time of grief.

Now wait a minute; celebrating a person’s life is not solely a Protestant tradition. Although it isn’t typically done during the funeral Mass itself, you’ve never been to an Irish (or Italian) wake if you don’t think we Catholics celebrate the life of the deceased.

 

[Cluny]

At Pope John Paul II’s funeral, there was great applause when his body was brought out and carried back into the Basilica.

 

[Frosty]

Was she, by any chance, Italian? I recall when they announced the death of JP II many in the crowd broke out in applause, and the news commentator stated that it is an Italian tradition. Granted, it was not during the funeral liturgy.

Cardinal Ratzinger’s homily during the funeral Mass for JP II was interrupted several times by applause. Particularly when he spoke of Pope John Paul II as standing at the door of the Father’s house. Last time I looked, the homily is part of the liturgy of the Mass!

 

[allhers]

Cardinal Ratzinger’s homily during the funeral Mass for JP II was interrupted several times by applause. Particularly when he spoke of Pope John Paul II as standing at the door of the Father’s house. Last time I looked, the homily is part of the liturgy of the Mass!

None of them said that there ought not to be a homily, they said that there ought not to be a eulogy at the funeral Mass. (just wanted to clear that part up.)

 

[rpp]

Cardinal Ratzinger’s homily during the funeral Mass for JP II was interrupted several times by applause. Particularly when he spoke of Pope John Paul II as standing at the door of the Father’s house. Last time I looked, the homily is part of the liturgy of the Mass!

A homily is always delivered by by a deacon, priest or bishop. A eulogy is often given by a friend or family member.

 

[Catholic90]

At the Catholic University my DH attended, there was an Abbey. When the Abbey had a funeral mass, EVERYONE (priests, monks, laypeople) clapped - the deceased monk or priest had obtained his goal - eternal life! Funeral up there are quite the joyous occassion.

 

[Frosty]

None of them said that there ought not to be a homily, they said that there ought not to be a eulogy at the funeral Mass. (just wanted to clear that part up.)

I understand that. I was merely replying to post #6

A homily is always delivered by by a deacon, priest or bishop. A eulogy is often given by a friend or family member.

I know that. My reply was in answer to post #6 simply stating that applause definitely occured during the liturgy of the Papal Funeral Mass. Nothing more, nothing less!

 

[Phemie]

Although they are not allowed, eulogies started in our parish because we had priests who didn’t know how to say ‘no’ and couldn’t or wouldn’t explain to the families why they weren’t allowed. In a town with only a 20% Catholic population and lots of mixed marriages most people are used to eulogies at funerals in other churches and expect to have the same here. Vigils have not caught on and were not promoted by the pastors so the idea of a eulogy at the funeral home during the vigil is also foreign to them.

As a compromise, our pastors now insist that if there is to be a eulogy, it starts 15 minutes before the Reception of the Body (if that didn’t happen an hour before anyone got there) and stops when Mass is about to start.

Only one pastor, whose stay was cut short because of health issues, ever decreed “NO EULOGIES, EVER, AT FUNERALS”. At the very first funeral after that decree a family member got up after Communion and said “We were told not to speak, but I’m sure you won’t mind” then proceeded to speak for 20 minutes. I thought the pastor was going to have a stroke he was so angry.

 

[Leonius]

Now wait a minute; celebrating a person’s life is not solely a Protestant tradition. Although it isn’t typically done during the funeral Mass itself, you’ve never been to an Irish (or Italian) wake if you don’t think we Catholics celebrate the life of the deceased.

I’m Irish just in case you didn’t notice

We don’t have the wake in church and it was never traditionally a celebration of the dead person, of course people swapped fond memories of the deceased but that is something different altogether from a eulogy. You know what happens at the wake in my Irish family, we gather round the dead person and pray the Rosary and other prayers through the night, traditionally the women of the family also keen the mourning songs. That is what a wake traditionally is, its not a time where you drink yourself stupid and toast the dead person that is the modern secular corruption of the tradition.

 

[Lujack]

I’m Irish just in case you didn’t notice

We don’t have the wake in church and it was never traditionally a celebration of the dead person, of course people swapped fond memories of the deceased but that is something different altogether from a eulogy. You know what happens at the wake in my Irish family, we gather round the dead person and pray the Rosary and other prayers through the night, traditionally the women of the family also keen the mourning songs. That is what a wake traditionally is, its not a time where you drink yourself stupid and toast the dead person that is the modern secular corruption of the tradition.

Who said it has to involve drinking and toasting? I understand the wake doesn’t take place at the funeral, but that doesn’t mean that there is no celebration of the life. I’ve been to my grandfather’s wake (Italian side), and no alcohol was served. That doesn’t mean that we didn’t celebrate my grandfather. Sure, there was crying, but there was a lot of laughing, too. The whole family was together, telling stories about him; exactly the way my father remembered it at his grandfather’s wake.

Just because you aren’t trashed out of your mind doesn’t mean you aren’t celebrating the deceased’s life, and that’s the way its been at the wakes I’ve been, where no alcohol was even served.

I’m also not sure how “modern” one could call that image of a wake, considering that its the sort of wake my grandfather (Irish) was familiar with growing up in the early 1930’s, and probably before that.

 

[rpp]

As for a “eulogy”, is it proper after Mass has finished for someone to get up and say a something along those lines? If it is not proper, since Mass has already finished, why not? I mean we get announcements after Mass.

As for applause, I suppose it depends on the person. I myself find it belittling to the deceased. So I guess my answer would depend on who the funeral was for.

Still waiting for an answer.

 

[Phemie]

In our parish the funeral isn’t over until the body is in the grave. There is really no place for a eulogy within the funeral liturgy, unlike the Funeral Vigil which does have a place for ‘someone to speak of the deceased’ or words to that effect.

 

[CradleCath]

Now wait a minute; celebrating a person’s life is not solely a Protestant tradition. Although it isn’t typically done during the funeral Mass itself, you’ve never been to an Irish (or Italian) wake if you don’t think we Catholics celebrate the life of the deceased.

True, but that’s at the wake. That is a proper time to do so…to lift a glass to the life of this person who has died, to remember the good times, to eulogize…but not at the funeral Mass. For us Trads, hopefully it will be a Tradtional Requiem Latin Mass, but many Bishops won’t allow that. One of the purposes of the Requiem Mass is to pray for the deceased that this person’s soul will not be held in Purgatory for long… that God may welcome him/her into His Kingdom.

My Father-in-law was a very cruel man, cruel to his wonderful wife & to his children. (I truly believe that my Mother-in-Law is a saint & I don’t simply mean that as a term of endearment. I think she went straight to heaven). However, someone at my Father-in-Laws funeral Mass talked the priest into giving a eulogy for him…I kept wondering who are they talking about & then it occured to me that the eulogy was more for the family than it was for him. This man needed prayers & lots of them. It was the first time I had attended a funeral where I had doubts about a soul going to heaven. It was a terrible feeling. <>

Here’s a good site for the rules & reasons behind Catholic funerals.
fisheaters.com/funerals.html

I had been told that cremation was just fine with the Church, until I read this site. It is not forbidden anymore, but still greatly discouraged.

 

[JaMc]

Cardinal Ratzinger’s homily during the funeral Mass for JP II was interrupted several times by applause. Particularly when he spoke of Pope John Paul II as standing at the door of the Father’s house. Last time I looked, the homily is part of the liturgy of the Mass!

I didn’t get a chance to watch the actual funeral Mass (I was in Law School at the time, and had class - plus, I lived on campus, and they didn’t have EWTN ), so I did not get to see that part. I was only commenting on the part that I saw. I have read Card. Ratzinger’s homily, though - quite impressive.