Down here in Southern California, Chick Hearn’s funeral was televised on six different TV channels.
The funeral took place at a Catholic Church in Brentwood and Cardinal Roger Mahony presided.
However, it wasn’t a Mass. It was just a service. There were songs, readings, a homily by the Cardinal, and various eulogies given by people.
But after the eulogies, there was a prayer of commendation and that was it.
In all my years of going to Catholic funerals, as either a mourner or an altar boy, I had never seen that type of funeral before. I always assumed that there was a Mass attached to such an event.
And I don’t believe that part of the funeral was not televised because newspaper accounts the day before said that Hearn’s funeral Mass would be televised and the day after the newspapers just said funeral service
I read somewhere that saying Mass has been dropped by the Catholic church as not meeting the needs of the people and not being progressive in today’s society. Cardinal Mahoney is the first higher echelon church leader to step out of the closet with regard to Mass, saying “Hey, a couple songs, a little wine and all the goys and girls are happy”.
I’m not going to be much help. I’ve never been to a Catholic funeral where the Mass of the Resurrection was not celebrated. The Catechism makes a point of mentioning the central nature of the celebration of mass at the funeral in church.
With the change in rules regarding weddings following Vatican II, I have seen weddings in which one of the couple was not Catholic and they skipped celebrating mass.
I’ve never encountered that with funerals. I can throw out some WAGs (neither of which I find satisfying):
Hearn was not Catholic but his wife was and she asked that the service be held at her parish.
However, if his wife is Catholic, why not celebrate the mass? We’ll pray for anyone. (I suppose that they might hold back to keep from having his side of the family have to go through the whole ritual. His wife’s side could later attend a private celebration of mass.)
Hearn was Catholic but his wife was not and she asked that they forego the mass.
I don’t think I ever once heard Hearn refer to religion on the air and I never heard of him being involved with any church.
This is unlike L.A.'s other longtime sports announcer, Vin Scully, who has long been involved with various Catholic charitable endeavors and speaks often about church and attending Fordham University.
My father was not Catholic, but when he died, his nearby friend (the children all lived several hundred miles away) helped us make funeral arrangements, including a memorial service in a local Catholic church. There was no Mass involved. I assume if they can have a non-Mass funeral for a non-Catholic, they could do it for a Catholic.
Growing up Catholic, I believe therre were some funeral services that did not include a Mass, but I couldn’t say for sure.
Happyheathen, a High Mass is a more fomalized, ritualized and solemn version of the Mass. Typically, most if not all the prayers are sung instead of said, incense is used and they may even break out Latin at some point. A Low Mass includes prayers which are spoken instead of sung, use of the vernacular language, etc. While the pieces are the same, how they’re done is different.
What do you mean by “Mass,” anyway? You mentioned they had readings, some songs, and a homily… that seems like a Mass to me. The only thing missing is the Eucharist, and I’ve NEVER been to a Catholic funeral, that I can recall, where they had Eucharist (and my entire family is Catholic). Personally, I think Eucharist would be rather inappropriate at a funeral, anyway.
Oh, and High Mass is done in Latin, and you can still occassionally catch one at some major cathedrals (I think there’s one in Dublin that still does 'em, though couldn’t tell you about anywhere else). Low Mass is done “in the common tongue,” which is the Mass you Catholics go to every Sunday.
My grandmother’s funeral Mass (1995) included the Eucharist.
I don’t think it can technically be called a Mass if it doesn’t include the Eucharist - otherwise its a funeral service or a Communion service. Am I right on that one?
Oh, I’ve been to funerals where they celebrate Mass, and consecrate the Eucharist. At first, I thought it was, yanno, “tacky,” but after experiencing it, I changed my mind.
Receiving the Eucharist at a funeral is so appropriate! What do most folks do after a funeral, anyway? They head on over to somebody’s house and EAT. The eating and drinking and sharing a meal is symbolic of life continuing, all of us will go on.
Sharing the Eucharist at the Lord’s table is saying we’re going to live on together, in Eternity.
~VOW
Yes, we’re talking about the Reqiuem (rest) Mass. Since Vatican II, several publishers of the books used have begun referring to the mass celebrated at a funeral as the Mass of the Resurrection.
The actual Roman Missal simply calls it, with complete directness, the funeral mass.
It takes about the same length of time as any mass–40 to 75 minutes depending on how long-winded the priest is and how much time a particular community spends on singing during the service.
There are a very few prayers that are different, but they are about the same length as the usual prayers. The specific difference is in the ceremony of wheeling the coffin in and out with the family and congregation following (pall bearers generally only handle the coffin on steps–in church it sits on a gurney which avoids the embarrassment of a pall bearer dropping the load) with a brief prayer said at each time.
Tom~ - The neighborhood church’s services do not include the congregation following the coffin - unless they are bunched up in the vestibule - the only persons visable from the outside are the mortuary staff and the pallbearers (who do deposit the coffin on a collapsible gurney) - the mourners (sometimes close to a hundred, sometimes just a few) appear to remain seated during the entry and exit. Is this a common variation, or are we locals exhibiting our tendency to be different?