Mass or Burial?

Key Facts:

• Long-time member of the parish dies on Tuesday
• Pastor agrees to celebrate funeral on Friday
• Family informs liturgist that the deceased left explicit instructions for a funeral liturgy outside of Mass
• Pastor refuses to celebrate funeral liturgy outside of Mass
• Does the pastor have the right to do this?

1. What are the parish policies regarding funerals? What is the actual practice (tradition?) of the parish regarding funerals?
2. When the family contacted Fr. Apoplexy to arrange the funeral, did they inform him of the deceased’s wish for a funeral liturgy outside of Mass? If so, what was his response at that time? If not, why not?
3. The deceased was apparently practicing. What is the level of practice of the family? Who will be likely to attend this funeral? Will it be mostly parishioners or non-Catholic friends and relatives of the deceased?
4. What is Fr. Apoplexy’s relationship to the deceased and/or his family? Why is he so adamant that he won’t celebrate the liturgy outside of Mass? Why is the liturgist dealing with this rather than Fr. Apoplexy since he feels so strongly about it?
5. Would the family be willing to have the service at another parish?
6. Would Fr. Apoplexy allow the associate priest or another priest to celebrate the liturgy in his parish? Or a deacon? Or a lay leader of prayer?

Pastoral Issues:

• Generally speaking, in the case of death, the Church is as accommodating as possible.
• If the majority of persons attending the funeral aren’t practicing Catholics, the celebration of Eucharist will serve to exclude rather than console.
• As the Church’s preference is for Mass to be celebrated, and if the majority of the persons attending the liturgy would benefit from the celebration of Eucharist, it is the duty of the pastor to educate and to lovingly encourage the family to have Mass, but not to demand it.
• Funeral rites are for the living, not for the dead.

• Canon 212 - § 1. Conscious of their own responsibility, the Christian faithful are bound to follow with Christian obedience those things which the sacred pastors, inasmuch as they represent Christ, declare as teachers of the faith or establish as rulers of the Church.
• § 2. The Christian faithful are free to make known to the pastors the Church their needs, especially spiritual ones, and their desires.
• Canon 213 – The Christian faithful have the right to receive assistance from the sacred pastors out of the spiritual goods of the Church, especially the word of God and the sacraments.
• Canon 520 – The following functions are especially entrusted to a pastor:
  • 5° the performance of funeral rites;
• Canon 1176 - § 1. Deceased members of the Christian faithful must be given ecclesiastical funerals according to the norm of law.
• § 2. Ecclesiastical funerals, by which the Church seeks spiritual support for the deceased, honors their bodies, and at the same time brings the solace of hope to the living, must be celebrated according to the norm of the liturgical laws.
• Canon 1177 - § 1. A funeral for any deceased member of the faithful must generally be celebrated in his or her parish church.
• § 2. Any member of the faithful or those competent to take care of the funeral of a deceased member of the faithful are permitted to choose another church for the funeral rite with the consent of the person who governs it and after notification of the proper pastor of the deceased.
• Canon 1184 - § 1. Unless the gave some signs of repentance before death, the following must be deprived of ecclesiastical funerals:
  • 1°   notorious apostates, heretics, and schismatics;
  • 2°   those who chose the cremation of their bodies fro reasons contrary to Christian faith;
  • 3°   other manifest sinners who cannot be granted ecclesiastical funerals without public scandal of the faithful.

Order of Christian Funerals:

General Introduction

• § 5 The Mass, the memorial of Christ’s death and resurrection, is the principal celebration of the Christian funeral.
• § 9 As part of the pastoral ministry, pastors, associate pastors, and other ministers should instruct the parish community on the Christian meaning of death and on the purpose and significance of the Church’s liturgical rites for the dead.
• § 10 Members of the community should console the mourners with words of faith and support and with acts of kindness.
• § 16 In planning and carrying out the funeral rites the pastor and all other ministers should keep in mind the life of the deceased and the circumstances of death. They should also take into consideration the spiritual and psychological needs of the family and friends of the deceased to express grief and their sense of loss, to accept the reality of death, and to comfort one another.
• § 43 The Order of Christian Funerals makes provision for the minister, in consultation with the family, to choose those rites and texts that are most suitable to the situation: those that most closely apply to the needs of the mourners, the circumstances of the death, and the customs of the local Christian community. The minister and family may be assisted in the choice of a rite or rites by the reflections preceding each rite or group of rites.
• § 46. The section entitled “Funeral Liturgy: provides two forms of the funeral liturgy, the central celebration of the Christian community for the deceased: “Funeral Mass” and “Funeral Liturgy outside Mass.” When one of its members dies, the Church especially encourages the celebration of the Mass. When Mass cannot be celebrated, the second form of the funeral liturgy may be used and a Mass for the deceased should be celebrated, if possible, at a later time.

Funeral Liturgy Outside of Mass

• § 178 This rite may be used for various reasons:
• 3. when for pastoral reasons the pastor and the family judge that the funeral liturgy outside Mass is a more suitable form of celebration.
• § 179 The funeral liturgy outside Mass is ordinarily celebrated in the parish church.
• § 182 . . .a layperson who presides wears the liturgical vestments approved for the region.

Literary, Rhetorical and Historical Aspects:

• Canon 212 – The Church is careful to assert the rights of pastors as representatives of Christ by placing the responsibility of Christian obedience of the faithful before indicating the rights of the faithful to make their needs and desires know to pastors.
• Canon 520 – rhetorical and historical note: “‘especially entrusted to’ (not exclusively reserved to) the pastor. He does not have the same right to discharge these functions as he had in the earlier legislation. He has the responsibility to exercise vigilance over these very important functions.” Beal, et al. p. 702
• Canon 1176 – This canon expressly refers to the primacy of the norms of liturgical law. In the United States the norms for the funeral liturgy can be found in the Order of Christian Funerals. Since the Church went to the trouble to provide for a funeral liturgy outside of Mass in the Order of Christian Funerals it can be deduced that the Church perceived a need to do so and that a funeral liturgy outside of Mass is preferable to no funeral liturgy.
• Canon 1177 – In keeping with the principal that rights are interpreted broadly and prohibitions are interpreted strictly, this canon asserts the right of the faithful to a funeral in their home parish but grants the faithful the right to choose another church for the funeral rite with the consent of the person who governs the other church with only notification of the parish pastor required. No provision is made for permission of the parish pastor.
  Note: In both canons 1176 and 1177 the funeral liturgy is referred to using the non-specific terms ecclesiastical funeral, funeral, and funeral rites. At no time is the word “Mass” expressly used.
• Canon 1184 – This canon lists those Catholics who may not receive a church funeral. It is very specific to persons who are publicly egregious sinners. This canon is applicable only in that, by our knowledge the deceased, he does not belong in this category.

According to the scenario presented, I am the parish liturgist. In my diocese, it is likely that I would also be a commissioned lay leader of prayer. This opens up certain creative solutions to this situation as the funeral rite outside of Mass may be led by a lay leader of prayer, although it is still preferable that a priest lead the service and the pastor must give permission for such a service to be held.

This is the crux of the problem. Why is the pastor refusing to accommodate the deceased’s and/or his family’s wish? Undeniably, it is the Church’s preference that the Mass be celebrated at a Catholic funeral but since the option for a funeral liturgy outside of Mass is provided for by the Church and not expressly prohibited in this situation, I do not think the priest really has grounds to refuse their request. According to the canons, the deceased is guaranteed a funeral in his home parish and the canons do not specify that a funeral requires the celebration of a Mass. Additionally, the pastor is clearly the person responsible for the funeral, whether or not he chooses to preside at the service. Finally, the refusal to celebrate the liturgy appears pastorally insensitive.

As the person “caught in the middle,” I would try to get under what Fr. Apoplexy is trying to accomplish. Maybe he is frustrated that he was not included in this decision and is “blowing off steam” in front of a trusted staff member and he will turn to the family in the appropriate pastoral manner and acquiesce to their wishes.  If he truly refuses to celebrate the funeral liturgy outside of Mass, I would try to pursue other options within the parish: is there an associate pastor, deacon or lay minister in the parish who could lead the celebration of the funeral liturgy? However, this still requires Fr. Apoplexy’s permission. Failing to get Fr. Apoplexy’s permission to celebrate the liturgy in the parish, I would do everything in my power to help the family arrange the funeral at a nearby parish. 

While this time of loss provides an excellent opportunity to catechize the family regarding the Church’s teaching about death and the power of the funeral liturgy within Mass, I would be supportive of their decision to have a funeral liturgy outside of Mass. At this critical period in their faith journey, the Church clearly calls us to walk with them, not to admonish them. In my own pastoral practice, it has been an honor and a deeply moving experience being present to families and being invited into the funeral rites, including the wake and the committal as well as the funeral liturgy. It is a rare occurrence to be able to be Christ for others simply by being witness to their grief and present to their loss.