Free Republic

(Reuters) - Lech Walesa, head of the Solidarity movement that ended Communism in Poland, knelt in prayer on Friday at a Catholic funeral mass for General Wojciech Jaruzelski, the Communist leader who for decades was his sworn enemy.

Fred Phelps, a former street preacher who led a family ministry that raged against what he perceived as a morally bankrupt society, died Thursday. His legacy of picketing funerals of military veterans and disaster victims, promoting coarse language to condemn conduct he viewed as amoral, and waging legal battles that protected his actions under the First Amendment, earned him an international reputation of a man’s whose absolute conviction was never swayed in the face of widespread contempt. “The level of his vitriol, the savageness of his comments, were just unmatched anywhere. His rhetoric was such he united people both on...

The other-than-human hatred for the Traditional Mass continues even after death - in January, our contributor Joseph Shaw presented the Latin Mass Society's guide on a way of ensuring your own Funeral Rites are conducted according to the Traditional Roman Rite (at least in some jurisdictions, see here: A Practical guide to having a Traditional Funeral Mass). Now, used as he was to the diabolical hatred for the Latin Mass, the late Mario Palmaro (requiescat in pace) devised, during the several months of excruciating suffering and pain caused by the disease that led to his death, another way to ensure...

“Full of Good Works, Dearly Missed, in Resurrection Hope” (Acts 9:36-42) Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which, translated, means Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity. In those days she became ill and died, and when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, “Please come to us without delay.” So Peter rose and went with them. And when he arrived, they took him to the upper room. All the...

LEXINGTON, Miss. - Workers at a Mississippi funeral home say they found a man alive and kicking when they opened a body bag. Holmes County Coroner Dexter Howard calls it a miracle that 78-year-old Walter Williams is alive. The coroner was called to Williams' home in Lexington, a community north of Jackson, where family members believed he had died. Howard says Williams had no pulse and was pronounced dead Wednesday at 9 p.m. Early Thursday, workers at Porter and Sons Funeral Home were preparing to embalm Williams when he started to kick in the body bag.

Israel beefed up security for former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's funeral near the Gaza border on Monday and warned the enclave's Palestinian rulers not to allow rocket fire during the ceremony, which US Vice President Joe Biden will attend. .....

Memorial Condolence Page Created for Israel PM, War Hero Ariel SharonBy Karen Levy Israel News AgencyJerusalem — January 13, 2014 ... An interactive, online condolence Website has been created by the Israel News Agency and JewishPr.co for Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The Ariel Sharon Condolence Page is being hosted by Facebook and within 24 hours has already attracted over 2,000 condolences from around the globe. "Ariel Sharon, was not just an Israeli Prime Minister and Defense Minister," says Joel Leyden, creator of the condolence site. "Sharon was and is a Jewish hero whose life illustrated a dedication to Israel's...

The video below shows “American tacky” in all its glory. A man who loved Burger King dies and his family honors him by taking the funeral procession through the Burger King “drive thru.” Free Burgers for all on the way to the Cemetery, hearse and all.I’ve seen worse, I have to admit. Probably at the top of the list is and “Funeral Home Drive- thru” where the deceased is actually on display in a window. No need to get out of your car and actually visit the family. No, that’s too much trouble and lacks the kind of convenience we...

On yesterday’s blog post, I discussed some of the more common problems that arise with funerals these days. That blog post provides the kind of background to the homily I present here. In this homily, I try to teach on what I think are important and central themes that need emphasis in Christian funerals today.The homily is broken into three parts: The Praise of the divine goodness of our God. For at every liturgy, funerals included, the first and primary work is the praise and worship of Almighty God, who has been good to us, and through faith has saved...

Dec. 17--The National Transportation Safety Board said Monday it plans to recover the plane that crashed off Kalaupapa last week with eight passengers aboard, including Department of Health Director Loretta Fuddy, who died after safely evacuating the aircraft. [....] In the Makani Kai case, Maui officials have not yet released an official cause of death for Fuddy,.... An autopsy was conducted Friday. [....] Services for Fuddy have been set for Saturday....

Another controversy hit South Africa’s long goodbye to anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela on Saturday when his fellow anti-apartheid foe Desmond Tutu said he had not been accredited as a clergyman at the funeral by the government so would not attend. Mac Maharaj, a spokesman for the South African president Jacob Zuma, insisted that Tutu is on the guest list and that he hopes a solution will be found so Tutu attends. The 82-year-old retired Anglican archbishop of Cape Town indicated he felt he had been snubbed by the current government, with which he has clashed several times in the past....

ou can't make things like this up, but this unnamed man apparently did. From AP via My Way News (12/11/2013): Mandela ceremony interpreter called a 'fake' JOHANNESBURG (AP) - A man who provided sign language interpretation on stage for Nelson Mandela's memorial service, attended by scores of heads of state, was a "fake," the national director of the Deaf Federation of South Africa said on Tuesday. Asked about the claim by The Associated Press, South Africa's government said it was preparing a statement. Three sign language experts said the man was not signing in South African or American sign languages....

Talk-radio giant Rush Limbaugh expressed disgust at President Barack Obama’s behavior at the memorial ceremony for Nelson Mandela – and at the mainstream media’s fawning coverage of Obama’s every move. “This whole week is about Barack Obama,” said Limbaugh. “That’s what the script is. (…) It’s all about him assuming Mandela’s place” and “assuming the mantle of world leftist leadership. “It’s a second inauguration if you will,” Limbaugh continued. “Obama is now the conscience of the world. The torch has been passed whether Mandela knew it or not.”

What a depressing site to visit!

A man who provided sign language interpretation on stage for Nelson Mandela’s memorial service, attended by scores of heads of state, was a “fake,” the national director of the Deaf Federation of South Africa said on Tuesday. The unidentified man seen around the world on television next to leaders like U.S. President Barack Obama “was moving his hands around but there was no meaning in what he used his hands for,” Bruno Druchen, the federation’s national director, told The Associated Press.

An international incident was touched off yesterday in Johannesburg, South Africa, when a goodwill appearance by President Obama was interrupted by an impromptu funeral. Mr. Obama was generously posing for souvenir pictures of himself with fawning admirers at the FNB Stadium (Soccer City), when security people rolled in Nelson Mandela's casket and demanded to have a memorial service. When questioned as to why they were disrupting Mr. Obama's appearance, the security men offered no explanation aside from "we reserved the stadium last week for this." "This kind of thing is a constant problem for Mr. Obama" said one of his...

Given Obama went to SA today to pay respects to a fellow socialist/communist I wonder what his reaction will be when Billy Graham dies. Will he have glowing words for the man who has really impacted the lives of people around the world of all ethnicities?

After the Rome diocese refused to allow a church funeral for Erich Priebke, a funeral for the convicted Nazi war criminal was held in a chapel of the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) outside Rome. The October 15 funeral for Priebke drew a crowd of protesters, with some shouting “murderer” as the coffin passed by, while counter-protesters gave the fascist salute. Police kept the two groups separate. Priebke, who was convicted for orchestrating the killing of over 300 Italian civilians in the Ardeatine Caves, died last week at the age of 100. He had never disavowed his Nazi...

For more than a year, Assembly Speaker John Pérez dated a Hollywood funeral director who faces fraud allegations in one of the biggest financial scandals to rock the U.S. funeral industry. During their relationship, Pérez, a Los Angeles Democrat, mixed political business with his personal life in ways that showed poor judgment, ethics experts say. A Pérez spokesman said the lawmaker conducted himself appropriately during a casual dating relationship. Tyler Cassity, proprietor of a boutique cemetery called Hollywood Forever as well as a Mill Valley cemetery, and defendant in a $600 million fraud lawsuit in his native Missouri, accompanied Pérez...

Over a half a million people were attending the funeral of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef Monday night in Jerusalem. Rabbi Yosef, 93, passed away earlier in the day. The crowd, observers said, consisted of a cross-section of Israelis, from hareidi to Religious Zionist to secular. Eulogies were being held at the Porat Yosef yeshiva in the Geula neighborhood. Dozens of speakers will eulogize the rabbi. Among the first to speak was Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef, one of Rabbi Yosef's sons and current Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Israel. In a heart-wrenching voice, Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef spoke of his father, saying that “from the...