Denial of a Catholic Funeral

Blistering editorial from the National Catholic Reporter in 3…2…1….

Choices have consequences, to be sure. May God have mercy on her soul.

A pastoral response would have been more appropriate.

I would be interested to know what this would look like that wouldn’t amount to formal or material support for what she did.

Her funeral isn’t a Mass. Just a play. Please don’t falsely dignify it by calling it what it merely apes.

Pat,
The sacraments and the mass are not meaningless. That is why denying them are not “meaningless gestures.” The church means to say our relationship to God is vitally, eternally important and sin can and will severe it when unrepented.
Denying the sacrament or mass is a vitally necessary way of saying that what the church teaches is not up for compromise because God cannot adjust objective truth to fit individual preferences.
The church didn’t deny her a burial; that would be heartless. It denied her a Catholic burial, with plenty of warning and in accord with her own behavior. The Church is so gracious.
Dead or alive, this woman is acting mean to demand sacraments/mass of a church whose teaching she rejects. In kindness, she should go in peace.

A pastoral response would have been more appropriate.

This was the pastoral response.

A pastoral response would be to (A) allow the ceremony and (B) use it as a teaching moment, get out there, talk to the people, understand what motivates the faithful to affirmatively stray from church guidance on abortion, homosexuality, female clergy, etc. But they don’t. This is the information age and a robust debate happens at every watercooler on all these topics and the RCC refuses to take a seat at the table and would prefer to stand outside the room and say, oh, by the way, we’re denying you communion, a funeral, etc. They don’t like the reality that they have to work harder than they did in the middle ages, b/c the asses in the pews are smarter than they used to be, have access to more information, and are unafraid to question authority. You can hear it in the uninspiring, thoughtless RCC sermons across the country every Sunday. A painful disconnect from the people of God.

A pastoral response would be to (A) allow the ceremony and (B) use it as a teaching moment, get out there, talk to the people, understand what motivates the faithful to affirmatively stray from church guidance on abortion, homosexuality, female clergy, etc.

Step (A) – what Scott said. Step (B) – the answer is quite simple, actually. People stray away because they’d rather do what they want than be faithful to Church teaching.

This is the information age and a robust debate happens at every watercooler on all these topics and the RCC refuses to take a seat at the table and would prefer to stand outside the room and say, oh, by the way, we’re denying you communion, a funeral, etc.

The RCC refuses a seat at the table? Pat, they own the table. They aren’t standing outside the room – the folks having these watercooler debates have locked themselves out.

Is there room for improvement in evangelization and explaining Church teaching? Yeah, in many areas, that’s true. But the Church is under no obligation – and in fact, by virtue of being guided by the Holy Spirit, is incapable of – redefining objective Truth. It’s about saving souls, not acquiescing to the whims and fancies of opinionated parishoners.

They don’t like the reality that they have to work harder than they did in the middle ages, b/c the asses in the pews are smarter than they used to be, have access to more information, and are unafraid to question authority.

True – we do have access to more information. Problem is, much of that information is bad information. As a result, they question authority with the mindset that matters of faith and morals are just differences of opinion, rather than differences of right and wrong. Let’s face it – people don’t like to be wrong.

As far as people being more intelligent? I’m not so sure about that. Obama did get elected after all.

Punishing Catholics doesn’t work.

It’s not about punishing Catholics. If the bishop grants the funeral, it’s little different than if he performed the fraudulent ordination himself.

It’s called consequences. If you ex-communicate yourself, you suffer the consequences.

And I’d also point out, the bishop is honoring her wishes. She didn’t want to be reconciled to the Church. Or to be more accurate, she only wanted to be reconciled on her terms. Well, the terms are unacceptable, and granting the funeral contradicts that and makes such a thing one big fat lie. I’d like to think that even if she died unreconciled, she still would have a problem with others lying on her behalf.

“Punishing Catholics doesn’t work?”
What the hell? Literally.
And a teaching moment? At a funeral? As in “Don’t do what she has done or someone might have to use your death as a teaching moment?”
How is it pastoral to give a self-declared, defiant, “non-sheep” a Catholic funeral? She died in protest, refusing to submit to the “pastor”. Maybe the teaching moment here is “If you make that face and the wind blows…:
It makes great sense to pray for her, but no sense to pretend that she will be buried a faithful Catholic…May Jeanine Denomme find peace in the Lord..

I know I’m late to the party, but as one Christian to another, Pat, why did you have to use “Christ” in vain in your first comment? Unless you think she actually died for Christ’s sake, which would be rather blasphemous.

My take on the denial of a Catholic funeral is that it IS a teaching moment. Especially when it comes to death and the Final Judgment, it’s neither right nor edifying to pretend that the deceased was a Catholic.

I don’t suppose any of you have heard of the case in which a family was denied a diploma for their deceased son? They wouldn’t accept a moment of remembrance at his class’s graduation. It went to court and the ruling came that the school was NOT to issue diplomas that weren’t earned.

Then again, it seems when it comes to death, it seems to me that American culture is twisted. Where I live, young people have tattoos of the names and death dates of local drug dealers, a kind of living memorial to those “taken too soon”. And when rappers die of the very bullet-ridden lifestyle they glorify, artists paint them surrounded by halos. I suppose in this culture it seems quite unnatural and unfeeling to go along with a lie.

Scott and Larry, you are much more interested in punishing catholics than in helping catholics understand the teachings of Christ and how they should be applied in 2010.

I don’t have the power to punish any Catholics. Having a Catholic funeral for an ex-communicated and (presumed) unreconciled Catholic doesn’t teach anything.

I’m wondering if you have kids. If I tell my son he can have ice cream after dinner, but only if he eats all his food, and then when dinner is over, he still has half his plate full, but I give him ice cream anyway, what lesson does he learn? How much sense would it make for me to say ‘You don’t deserve ice cream, but I’m going to give you some anyway so that you can experience what you will miss out on when you don’t finish your supper”? That’s nonsensical, and all my son would learn is that my rules and expectations are meaningless.

You live in a very simple world.

Didn’t Christ say something along the lines of ‘Unless you believe like a little child…’? Simple it may be, but it’s real.

Pat – In case you’re not clear on the concept that one’s actions have consequences…

Philippine Bishop: No Catholic Burial for Governor who was Freemason

The very fact that her lesbian partner came out publicly to condemn the Church for its lack of compassion shows that it would have been unwise to have the funeral in a catholic church because it would be pointless. If the presiding priest talked of her disobedience and her excommunicated state he would be accused of speaking ill of the dead and adding to the suffering of her friends.
Perhaps the most charitable thing that could have been done would be to have mentiooned her name in the prayers for the dead and ask the parishioners to pray for her.
I know I was saddened to hear she had died while excommunicated and I hope she received a miracle of grace at the moment of her dying.

Bill, it’s spelled with a “t” at the end, and He’s doing quite well, thanks for asking!