Funeral liturgy..no priest?

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Last week I attended a funeral liturgy (no eucharist) for the father of a co-worker. The entire liturgy, other than the reading of the gospel, was said by a relative of the family. A priest, dressed in street clothes, arose from where he was sitting with the congregation, read the gospel and sat back down. Other than that, no priest! I thought this was really, really strange. Any thoughts? Has anyone seen this done? The whole thing just didn’t seem right to me.

Patricia
 
I have been to a funeral service where there was only a deacon. It obviously was not a mass. I have never been to one as you describe.
 
A funeral liturgy can be conducted by a Deacon or by a lay person who has been trained for this and appointed by the Bishop. The same applies to weddings. This is of course all outside of a liturgy of the Eucharist. A priest would need permission from the Bishop or the pastor to celebrate Mass. It is possible that he did not receive permission in time. It would however have been proper for him to read the Gospel, However the Deacon or appointed Lay person could have also read the Gospel.The Blessing of the body and certain prayers are reserved to a Priest or Deacon only. A Lay person could not say certain prayers or give certain Blessings found in the funeral liturgy.

I also understand that non-Catholics usually a spouse of a Catholic, may have a Catholic funeral liturgy, but not a funeral Mass, maybe this was the case.
 
Yes, Br. Rich, but if there was a priest there, was he not bound to perform the service?
 
Detroit Sue:
Yes, Br. Rich, but if there was a priest there, was he not bound to perform the service?
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No, he would not be “bound” by law to officiate, however I don’t know why he didn’t. We will never know unless he pops in here and tells us. But then I can think of very few places where the Bishop would commission a Lay person.
 
Before I was Ordained, I was only allowed to do wakes and gravesides. No liturgy at all in the church. Once again, exceptions can be made according to the bishop.

Deacon Tony
 
Perhaps the difficulty lies in the use of the word “liturgy”. This would imply specific prayers and format, following a pattern set by the Church. It sounds more like they had a service, in which there was a Gospel reading which some priest did. If it was a service, as opposed to a Church sanctioned liturgy, then the question becomes why did the family have a service, rather than whehter this was “proper”.
 
Was the deceased a Catholic? We have had a couple of ad hoc prayer services for some one who was not Catholic, though their children were or they had a lot of Catholic friends.
 
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