I was shocked by Bishop Paprocki's pronouncement:
https://www.ncronline.org/blogs/distinctly-catholic/bishop-paprockis-unhinged-decree-same-sex-marriage
I am far from believing in sexual libertarianism. I don't think anything and everything is okay. But I do believe people have to follow their own conscience, and agree with what Pope Francis has said about accompaniment. I am not seeing how in the world denying someone in a same sex relationship a church burial (not to mention denying them Eucharist and any ministry in the church) is accompaniment. They don't treat Mafia or drug dealers this badly. I hope this isn't allowed to stand.
I'm not sure I understand what accompaniment is, exactly--accompanying and guiding someone to Christ? Certainly, you can't guide anybody if you utterly reject them.
ReplyDeleteHowever, aren't there some situations like suicide, which preclude someone from a funeral Mass and burial in consecrated ground? (I think many priests dodge the proscription on suicides by assuming they were mentally ill.)
A fellow at work was telling about a friend whose Lutheran mother and Catholic father were buried in separate cemeteries.
Or habe things changed? Can't you ask for a funeral Mass for any deceased person? I was urged by the church ladies to have a Mass said for my dad when he died, even though Dad hated our being Catholics.
Yeah, pretty much priests give suicides the presumption of being mentally disturbed, at least at the time they did it. That was even true back in the 50s; I can remember a classmate of my dad's who killed himself. He had a Catholic funeral, the priest said we couldn't know his state of mind; he was known to suffer from depression.
DeleteA funeral Mass would be different from a Mass offered for the repose of the soul of a deceased person, which can be for anyone, and can be offered at any time. A Mass of Christian burial would be for a Catholic. I have also known a funeral Mass to be held for the non catholic spouse of a Catholic, who nevertheless attended church with his or her family, and was Catholic in all but name.
I asked a priest about the suicide burial thing once. He said that with modern understandings of mental health, no one would be blamed for suicide and that suicides do get buried now.
DeleteIt's way past time for the church to change its stance on marriage equality. Many other Christian denominations accept it and many perform the marriages ... Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Quakers, UCC, etc. ... not to mention both Reform and Conservative Jewish Movements ... Pew Forum
ReplyDeleteI just saw in the news today, also from the Pew Forum, that 67% of Catholics support marriage equality. It's just the hierarchy that opposes it and for many/most Catholics, especially in the US, they are pretty much irrelevant.