Observations and questions about Justice Scalia's funeral mass

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ProVobis said:
In LL’s defense, have you seen funerals in the U.K.? Princess Di’s funeral was probably more Catholic than most you’ve seen.
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Thank you my friend. I would also mention Cardinal Basil Hume in 1999 which was a beautiful affair. All I could find was the Kyrie which sounds sublime (though the picture is poor quality) youtube.com/watch?v=2mwILo2o4ZQ

youtube.com/watch?v=N7SVeyaFsNs

And this is how a congregation should sing a hymn:

youtube.com/watch?v=XFOihu0AfmM
 
ProVobis said:
If you pre-pay a funeral home, yes, then it becomes an enforceable contract. When my mother died, we also bought a plot for my father next to hers, so that 24 years later the cemetery honored that, as we went through another funeral home for him.

In these days of personal parishes and such, the legally binding stuff can be somewhat tricky, given that things change so much over 30-40 years.
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Let’s just say that you can establish a contract how your body will be dealt with after death (casket, cremation, urn, etc.) and where you’ll be buried if you purchase a burial plot.

You can’t 't get a contract that the Funeral Mass will be celebrated in the Extraordinary Form. You can’t bind your present or future Pastor to that. You can certainly ask but that’s all you can do.

You can put together a list of what you want sung and the people you’d like involved and leave it in the family Bible and make sure your family knows it’s there but what happens at the time will depend on who is available and how much your family cares about fulfilling those wishes. I wanted the Ordinary chanted in Latin at Dad’s funeral because he started serving Mass back in 1925 that’s what he knew. The choir director pretty much told me to get stuffed with “the Church doesn’t do that anymore”. I wanted to say, 'Funny, you did the Sanctus in Latin at Christmas 2 weeks ago."
 
Phemie said:
You can’t 't get a contract that the Funeral Mass will be celebrated in the Extraordinary Form. You can’t bind your present or future Pastor to that. You can certainly ask but that’s all you can do.
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Why is it all about gloating over the fact it wasn’t an EF? My dad attended at different churches (I think) so we had to use our judgement of how to have the funeral. Fortunately we found a Polish priest to do the services. (My dad had had his last rites at a VA hospital by a VA priest.) Relatives didn’t even consider making arrangements with any church.
 
liturgyluver said:
I was referring to the entrance hymn, the beautiful and appropriate “Oh God, our help in ages past” sung to St Anne’s which surely is a hymn that most people knows and should be able to sing when it has been selected for a funeral.
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You’d be surprised. We’ve never sung that in the 19 years I’ve been in this parish. I’ve only ever heard it at the Anglican Church.

I knew you were likely referring to the Entrance Hymn, but I still would like to know what they chanted at the Offertory.

I also think with the organ and the amplified cantor you’d probably be hard pressed to hear unless people were singing lustily, which I find they tend not to do in the Catholic churches I attend and even less so at Funeral Masses.
 
Lormar said:
Honestly, when I’m dead, I’m dead. My soul is gone from my body and judged by our dear Merciful Saviour.

What kind of funeral arrangements are made by those left behind will not mean one thing to me at that point.

I don’t care what happens to my body after I die, or what kind of Mass is arranged for me. All I ask though is that others remember to pray for me and, if possible, have Masses offered for me. Just in case I don’t go straight to heaven. :heaven::angel1::harp::heaven:
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I’m with you. Sure, I have my preferences, but I don’t think I’ll really care whether my loved ones pray for me at a Divine Liturgy, Parastas service or Panachida, or the extraordinary or ordinary form of the Mass.

I want a funeral and burial as prescribed by the rites of the Church. Since there are options, I will leave the details to the best judgement of those who survive me.

My mother, on the other hand, has very definite ideas about what she’d like for her funeral and I will do my best to honor them, even though I don’t think she’ll care at that point.
 
ProVobis said:
Why is it all about gloating over the fact it wasn’t an EF? My dad attended at different churches (I think) so we had to use our judgement of how to have the funeral. Fortunately we found a Polish priest to do the services. (My dad had had his last rites at a VA hospital by a VA priest.) Relatives didn’t even consider making arrangements with any church.
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Good grief, who’s gloating over the fact that it wasn’t an EF Mass? If there was an EF Mass within a reasonable distance that’s what I’d attend. 1600 mile return trip minimum is not exactly convenient.

As for what you were able to do for your dad, well, you’re lucky you had that option, many of us don’t. There is nowhere to go for a funeral Mass other than my local parish with my local pastor.

There was no other choice for Dad’s funeral either, it was in the parish where he’d been baptized, confirmed, married and had served as an altar server for over 30 years and as an EMHC for probably 10 years until he became unable to negotiate the step down from the sanctuary without the risk of falling and dropping the ciborium. At the time, 11 years ago, that parish had a dedicated Pastor. Today, the priest serving that parish also serves the 8 other parishes in the area so there is no choice there either.
 
I don’t mind the choir being up front if that’s how the church is designed. What I’m objecting to is in my own parish. We’ve got a perfectly lovely choir/organ loft, the choir sounds like angels-- and instead they’re shoehorning the cantor or several choir members into a corner of the altar area that is cramped. I keep expecting them to trip and fall right onto the statue of Our Blessed Mother!

I’m told that this is the way other parishes do things, so there’s no choice but to put up with it. One thing I’m noticing is that the choir members who have to be up front seem VERY unhappy about being there…
 
ProVobis said:
If you pre-pay a funeral home, yes, then it becomes an enforceable contract. When my mother died, we also bought a plot for my father next to hers, so that 24 years later the cemetery honored that, as we went through another funeral home for him.

In these days of personal parishes and such, the legally binding stuff can be somewhat tricky, given that things change so much over 30-40 years.
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Well yes and no. Yes, if you’ve pre-paid your funeral then those dealing with your funeral arrangements are more than likely to go along with what you’ve wanted - if only because it’s the easiest course of action in difficult circumstances where time is limited. that said, the obvious difficulty is that you’re no longer around to enforce your own interests!

For his part, the priest will usually go along with what family want (albeit sometimes a little bit of negotiation is required over some details: e.g. “perhaps My Way might not be the best choice of recessional song”…
 
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