His is “the kingdom, the power and the glory forever!” Protestantism 4 Life! Even when we’re wrong and we know we’re wrong. Represent.
Don’t get me started on debts vs trespasses though.
I was making pastoral calls in a hospital 25 miles from home, when I found a former member, now married to a Catholic. Her husband had been seriously injured. He had been pronounced brain dead, so they were collecting the family for the end. I thought a clergyman should be present; everyone knew me - small town. Everyone being assembled, they literally pulled the plug. Breathing slowed, and then stopped. I gave a typical Protestant prayer and the Catholics added the Lord’s Prayer and the Rosary. Later one asked me if I had been offended by the Catholicism, and I thought it was a totally appropriate response of faith to the solemnity of the situation. I later found that the priest had been in town that afternoon. I assume that he could not be present, since that would gave given the appearance of approval to an illegal act, according to
catholic dogma. The Rosary had been an act unifying the bonds of love in that family.
First, what’s involved isn’t dogma, I can’t remember the exact term now but it’s not a matter of faith; behavioral guidelines kind of thing. Second, it’s not forbidden or anywhere near it (illegal would imply it being a matter of canon law, which it also isn’t).
IIRC most religions have some version of a repetitive stimulus (a mantra, chant or in this case, repetitive prayers). The human nervous system, especially the “conscious”, will, when presented with an unchanging stimulus, go into a state of relaxation. This requires practice so it would not be unusual for someone practicing since childhood to be very proficient
Anyway, condolences for the loss, death is never pleasant. I hope the rituals described in the OP work for the mourners.
I know of no Catholic dogma, practice, or tradition that would make it improper for anyone, even a non-Catholic or even a non-Christian, to pray with a family while a loved one is dying. But regardless of who else was present, a priest ought to have been there to administer the Anointing of the Sick.
Unless the “illegal act” you’re referring to was pulling the plug? Catholicism does not allow active euthanasia, but it does allow withdrawal of extraordinary measures to preserve life. It also allows, in extreme cases procedures with a high risk of death, provided that that isn’t the purpose of the procedures, and there isn’t any equivalently-effective option without the risk: The classic example is extreme doses of painkillers for a terminal patient.
Word. When I was growing up, our parents had us all kneel down in the living room every evening during Lent, and recite the Rosary. When we went on a long drive to visit our cousins, Mom would often lead us in a Rosary, ostensibly to petition for a safe trip, but maybe also to stave off boredom. When I did altar boy duty at 6:30 Mass, I’d recite it alone as I walked the mile and a half home from the church. It worked pretty well as a way of passing the time.
Nobody ever told me about the motivation of putting me into a meditative or contemplative state, though. As far as I was concerned, it was marginally less boring than trudging along the streets of Torrance, or counting mile markers on the freeway.