I am sorry but I do not understand, that is why I am questioning whether Can 1184 applies here. I certainly did read the post concerning the Canon Law on this matter. I do not see how I contradicted myself, first of all alot of people are in prison does that make all of them less worthy His family said he was sorry for all the sins he committed in his life, why would they lie. He, called for a priest so again I ask if he was repentant did they still have the right to judge his sincerity and deny Catholic Services…Once more I am asking this respectfully. God Bless:butterfly:.
I am going to assume here that everything you’re saying is correct, for the sake of discussion. Since I do not know the person, I cannot say whether or not he repented, so be assured that I am not going to attempt that. However, that only goes so far. You did say that he was incarcerated—so that means he was found guilty under the law of at least one crime.
A few posts back you said he “did not commit a public offense” and that’s where you’re contradicting yourself. He either did or he did not. So unless you’re claiming that he was unjustly convicted, or that he was simply thrown into prison for no reason, you’re posting contradicting statements. So I’ll ask again: was he convicted by a jury (or the equivalent, such as a plea bargain)?
Even if one did repent, there is still the issue of public scandal. Canon 1184.1.3
When people see a Catholic funeral for someone who lived a notorious life (I am not judging anyone, but speaking in general terms) they can become confused about whether or not the Church is endorsing or ignoring that behavior. Even worse, they sometimes think that a person might have made some large donation to cause the clergy to “look the other way” when it comes to sin; or that the Church is encouraging that behavior
There is such a thing as genuine scandal. I am speaking here about genuine scandal, not what we call pharisaic scandal (people who can’t mind their own business but go looking for sin in others). It is real and it exists.
The potential for real scandal exists when the person being buried is known to the public to have committed some crime. That does not mean there is always public scandal, only the possibility of it.
It is for the local ordinary (that usually means the bishop of the local diocese) to make the decision–to weigh the values of avoiding public scandal against the value of teaching God’s mercy.
For whatever reason, the local ordinary made the decision not to allow a public Catholic funeral Mass for this individual.
You keep repeating the same question: does the bishop have the authority (you use the word “right” which is not the correct word) to deny a public funeral? The answer has been posted several times now in the affirmative. It is his decision to make.
Repeating the question does not change the answer.
The answer is: yes, the bishop does have that authority. Yes, canon 1184 does apply.
