Archbishop Bans Pop Music At Funerals

pickens writes "The NY Times reports that the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne has announced a ban on the playing of pop music at funerals, which, he said, are not to be described as 'a celebration of the life of' the deceased. According to new guidelines published on Archbishop Denis Hart's Web site: 'Secular items are never to be sung or played at a Catholic funeral, such as romantic ballads, pop or rock music, political songs, football club songs.' According to a cemetery contacted by Melbourne's Herald Sun, a list of more unusual songs played at Australian funerals includes: 'Always Look on the Bright Side of Life' by Monty Python, 'Another One Bites the Dust' by Queen, 'Highway to Hell,' by AC/DC and 'Ding Dong the Witch is Dead' from The Wizard of Oz."

Comments

What happened to News for Nerds?

[Tanktalus]

What happened to "News for Nerds"? I realise this is the "idle" section, but still - is it just so someone can make fun of religious people or something? This isn't nerdsworthy in the least. Maybe if this were a site of "News for Catholics" but it's not.

not new

[ook_boo]

They are just stating the policy of the church as is always has been (that the funeral is a well-defined service not meant to be a wake or memorial of the life of the deceased), and noting that celebrations or memorials of the person's life can be held at a separate celebration or even at a separate mass. It's also known that the church has not been enforcing its own policies in some parishes. Possibly the real news is that the NY Times reporter is so ignorant of the Catholic church that he thinks this is all newsworthy.

It *is* a celebration, idiiot

[StoatBringer]

are not to be described as 'a celebration of the life of' the deceased
Indeed. A lot of funerals I've been to seem to treat it entirely as a chance to prattle on about God and Jesus to a captive audience, with an "insert name here" script.

The last funeral I went to was for my Gran, and it was a secular funeral. It was [i]all about[/i] a celebration of her life, and was much more personal and caring than any religious funeral has ever been.

In conclusion, fuck that Archbishop.

Re:It *is* a celebration, idiiot

[rac44]

In conclusion, fuck that Archbishop.

Keep your fucking to yourself, please.

The Archbishop didn't tell you or anyone else what to do in secular funerals, so you have no business complaining if you're not a practicing Catholic.

Really, I think people just don't get the picture about how Catholic funerals are designed. There's the wake and there's the funeral service.

The wake has plenty of room for nostalgia, sentiment, story-telling, and goofy songs, if you want.

The funeral service in church is (gasp!) a religious service. It's not a party. It's not for telling stories how Uncle Bob could drink us all under the table. It's about God and about praying for the deceased. We Catholics believe in doing that. If you have a problem with that, you don't have to attend it.

Be happy!

Re:It *is* a celebration, idiiot

[rac44]

Incredulous? Nah, I'm used to people who 'want to do things differently from' me. But I have to wonder at cases of hostility from non-Catholics over a policy that doesn't affect them. Why would a person from a non-Catholic family get so mad as to want to swear at the Abp. over it? Obviously the conflict between his likes and the Church's policy bothers him. Perhaps he wants to be more at peace with the Church.

Re:Hypocrisy

[Inner_Child]

Yes, because "America, The Beautiful" is sung at OH SO MANY Australian funerals.