I went to my niece’s funeral this weekend. She was 21 years old with her whole life ahead of her. She was a talented artist, musician, athlete and beautiful girl. She always had a big smile on her face and everyone adored her. She especially loved children.
And she was a heroin addict. She overdosed and was in the hospital for 5 days, brain dead before they finally took her off of life support. Needless to say the family was devastated.
She didn’t attend any church regularly if at all. (maybe when she was little)
Her Dad’s family is Catholic and he wanted a Catholic funeral.
Making a long story short I have questions.
During the funeral the Priest said he knew she was in heaven to rest assured of this.
My question is…Why would a Priest say this under these circumstances?
Does he really believe this? And if he does believe this what would lead him to this?
I was brought up with the beliefs that Salvation is the way to Jesus and the only way.
Can you please explain? Do Catholics think everyone goes to heaven? Do they think that
by having that ceremony and everything they did at the service will get her into heaven?
Please explain thanks
Cindy
Firstly, may I offer my sincere sympathy on you’re loss.
I agree with another poster who said the Priest may have been trying to comfort those grieving. I would also like to add a funeral is not the forum to preach doctrine or convert anyone. Therefore, I wouldn’t read into what the Priest said as an explanation of Catholic doctrine. It also may be the case that he recognized the fact that there were people there who were not from the Catholic community and he has said that as a gesture of good will towards them. I’ve seen that happen in my part of the world and it happens because there has been so much bad feeling between Protestants and Catholics and there are people trying very hard to build bridges. Personally speaking, there’s nothing I dislike more than a funeral being used to as an opportunity to recruit, which I have seen happen, because there is a captive audience.
Certainly if a friend of mine lost a loved one in tragic circumstances and they believed they were in heaven, I wouldn’t try to rip that away from them. It would be cruel to do that. If they wanted to discuss Catholic doctrine concerning death and salvation at a more appropriate time I would do it. If I was asked at a more appropriate time I would discuss it in more detail, but only if I was asked.
Catholics certainly do not believe that giving someone a Catholic funeral will secure their place in heaven. What they do believe is that they should be given a Christian burial because that is the Christian thing to do, irrespective of who or what they are, because it is our responsibility to bury the dead in a Christian way. If a person is baptized Catholic, they are also entitled to be buried a Catholic because they were, or were once, a member of our faith community.
That all sounds very logistical and there is more to it. The reality is we don’t know what is on the other side of death. Catholics believe that it is God’s plan for all to receive salvation. Some chose to reject God’s offer of salvation. We don’t know why and we don’t know who they are. Therefore, the person who has died may in heaven and they might not. However, it would be cold comfort for a priest to get up at a funeral Mass and say, ‘we don’t know if this person is in heaven or not, we don’t know if they chose to reject salvation we just hope they didn’t and because at times they didn’t lead a good life they might not be in heaven.’ What kind of a funeral would that be? I know I’m exaggerating a little, but it’s to make the point, what can a priest say at funeral when someone has died in tragic circumstances?
We also believe that ‘God is greater than our hearts and knows everything,’ which means God takes everything into account, including a persons culpability and is more forgiving and merciful than any human could hope to be. God may have given us free will but thankfully, He reserves judgement for Himself and Himself alone. Therefore, who gets into heaven is a matter for God and God alone. We cannot know. However, we can believe our dead loved one’s are in God’s hands, and God will do what is righteous. Those who loved him are never lost despite failings and addictions.
