Grace’s turn at the podium followed shortly after Archbishop Diarmuid
Martin had also said a few words of tribute at the same event.
Neither
eulogy trivialised death or the Eucharist in the fashion about which
Bishop of Meath Michael Smith
appears to be so concerned.
On the contrary, in their different styles,
both Brendan Grace and Diarmuid Martin captured the character of the
deceased, reflected the impact of his life’s work as a priest and
brought some comfort to the bereaved.
I was at
another funeral recently, in the Diocese of Ferns, of a man who had
devoted much of his spare time to the local parish and community. This
was reflected in a few words of tribute said in the church before Mass
by a community leader, was captured during the Mass itself by the priest
who although recent to the parish had come to know the deceased and
respect his counsel, and was reflected again after communion by a family
member who spoke of how the dead man’s life had inspired his extended
family to contribute time to community and church.
At
another funeral I attended a couple of years ago the priest paid a
touching tribute to his mother, whose funeral it was. He spoke of how
she had not only inspired his faith but had been a particular support to
him in the lonely and difficult life of modern Catholic ministry.
All these tributes contravened the Catholic
Church’s rules, which thankfully in most dioceses are observed more in
the breach than observance.
Observance
One
curious feature of the changing patterns of Catholic religious
observance in this country is that while attendance rates at weekly Mass
have collapsed and the rates of baptism and church weddings are
falling, the extent to which Irish people abide by Catholic funeral
rituals is almost as strong as it was half a century ago.
It is
estimated that fewer than 10 per cent of funerals held in Ireland each
year happen in a place other than a church.
Truth
be told, weddings and funerals are the only occasions where the
majority of the Irish now see the inside of a church. Irrespective of
the level of religious observance during their lifetime, almost all of
those born and reared as Catholics in Ireland are buried in Catholic
graveyards after a full funeral Mass in a Catholic church.
From
purely a marketing perspective, therefore, it seems strange that those
who presumably wish to encourage engagement with the church would insist
on rules which serve only to alienate the church from the needs and
wishes of the community at the one time when the general community is
still minded to visit church premises and avail of church services.
Those church leaders who chose to publish guidelines and emphasise
absolute restrictions on what can and cannot be done in a church at or
around a funeral must know that in so doing they put a wedge between the
church and the bereaved at a vulnerable time. It may seem like a
relatively trivial issue but for families denied the opportunity to say
their words of tribute in the church, or have a friend say them on their
behalf it matters a lot.
It is wrong, of course, to analyse the church’s
actions in marketing terms but similarly it is wrong of those in the
church such as Bishop Smith to view the function and purpose of the
church service at the time of bereavement in strictly defined liturgical
terms.
Most people, and it seems from the level
of noncompliance most priests, see it as unnecessary to deny the family
and the community the opportunity to know more about and celebrate the
life by having somebody who knew the deceased speak of them. It can only
be a good thing to allow for funeral services with a broader degree of
personalisation than merely inserting the name of the deceased at
specified points in the liturgy. It is peculiar that some condemn this
as a “materialisation” of religion or “canonisation” of the dead.
One
can appreciate why any religious organisation might wish that such
tributes be outside the order of the service itself, but to suggest, as
Bishop Smith did this week, that any family tribute must occur outside
of the church building is strange. Leaving aside the fact that church
buildings are built and supported by community fundraising the notion
that eulogy should occur at the graveside, where the mourners are
subject to the vagaries of the Irish weather, or at some other venue or
in the local paper is simply detached from the reality of everyday life.
One wonders also whether at the heart of
this restrictive view is an arrogance that the uttering of wise words
about the impact of a passing should be the preserve of a specifically
trained, all-male priesthood. It is as if only priests can be trusted at
such times to say what it is appropriate and do it well. Anyone who has
sat through even a sampling of modern Irish Catholic sermons will
attest that the standard of basic communication from the podiums of our
churches is patchy to say the least.
Overall it
smacks of a bureaucratic and arguably unchristian approach to the
communal need to gather and grieve. The church should be tearing down
barriers between the altar and the congregation, not re enforcing them.