Hi,
I heard that some Churches allow people to play their favourite pop songs during funerals. Is that right?
Do they do this in the Catholic Church?
Apparently, one of the most popular requests is "I've had the time of my Life"...
I heard also that someone chose "Come on baby light my fire" for a cremation. lol I think a lot of Anglican priests are leaving the church over stuff like this.. but Im just curious - do Catholics allow this also?
Comments
That doesn't mean I would want them to play pop songs rather than have a proper funeral.
When my parents pass away, God grant that it not be for many years, I will be sad, but I will also be joyful at their funeral because I know that they have spent their lives in service to God and will pass to a blessed reward. There will be nothing to be sad about at their funeral, except that I will miss them for a few years until I pass away.
For me to live is Christ, to die is gain.
There is nothing in death that should make us sad or despair, other than that we will miss our friends for a very short time.
Father Peter
It seems that most funerals of non-believers or semi-believers expect to find bliss beyond the grave unlike we Orthodox who look to God's grace. All these sort of gfunerals have maudlin music too. I went a 16 year old's funeral at which they played a tape of Michael Jackson singing She's out of my life'!
Modern funerals are not about anything that is remotely Christian. An Anglican parson was recently reported to feel himself redundant at those funerals where people are sent off to trashy pop music and with assurances from relatives of a future meeting and everlasting peace. No prayers for the repose of the soul of the departed.
It certainly depends on the funeral I guess. I recently attended the funeral of an atheist that was very sad because of the effort being made to avoid the fact of death. But all the funerals of believers I have attended have been joyful in a sad way. Certainly neither despairing nor maudlin.
But I know exactly what you mean and would never conduct a funeral with pop music. It should be a spiritual moment in which the soul of the departed is commended to God with hope and the spirits of those who remain are filled with peace.
I would wish to pray with hope for all those who depart this life since I do not know their heart before God and cannot pre-judge God. I have apparent unbelievers in my own extended family but I am convinced that God loves all and will judge all with mercy according to his own will.
There came a point in my life when I accepted that I would die and accepted that I was ready to die. I think perhaps we are all called to this otherwise we fear death as an end instead of a new beginning.
Father Peter
btw i am not about to die i just have a really bad cold, so i thought about death!
i would like 'thoak ta te gom' (yours is the power and the glory and the blessing and the majesty) when i die, so i'll have to die during holy week! it has a really cheerful tune and i hope it may console those who are left behind.
btw i am not about to die i just have a really bad cold, so i thought about death!
That's never going to happen. They're just going to bury you. No one gets a funeral during Holy Week.
Your funeral is on Palm Sunday. If you die during the Holy Week, well.. there will not be a funeral in Church - I can tell u that.
All prayers concentrate on Christ's passion and suffering.
Someone correct me, but that is what a priest told us.
Your funeral is on Palm Sunday. If you die during the Holy Week, well.. there will not be a funeral in Church - I can tell u that.
All prayers concentrate on Christ's passion and suffering.
Someone correct me, but that is what a priest told us.
that's right...BUT you'd still say thok te ti-gom, being part of the pascha rites.... :D
[quote author=QT_PA_2T link=topic=8426.msg107115#msg107115 date=1256234560]
Your funeral is on Palm Sunday. If you die during the Holy Week, well.. there will not be a funeral in Church - I can tell u that.
All prayers concentrate on Christ's passion and suffering.
Someone correct me, but that is what a priest told us.
that's right...BUT you'd still say thok te ti-gom, being part of the pascha rites.... :D
Oh? I thought they'd just bury you?
Oh.. u mean when they are burying u, they'll be singing Thok Te Gom?
Oh? I thought they'd just bury you?
Oh.. u mean when they are burying u, they'll be singing Thok Te Gom?
actually....i am not sure about that....i never been to a funeral on holy the week....the closest i seen was on palm sunday during the general funeral.
We meant that every hour of Pascha, the doxology is chanted.....
If someone dies during Holy Week then their coffin is brought into the Church and one of the Hours is prayed over them, and they are mentioned by name by the priest. The coffin is sprinkled with the water blessed at the Palm Sunday Funeral.
I am not sure what would happen if a person died late in the week. Is it the case that in Egypt funeral tend to take place quickly after death? In the UK this is not so normal and there would often be even a delay of a week. In which case if someone died on Good Friday I would suppose that their funeral might take place on Monday after Pascha. I don't know. I haven't participated in the funeral of anyone who has died during Holy Week.
Father Peter