Has anyone out there seen a US Flag atop a veteran's coffin during a Catholic funeral ceremony?
Catholics take that US flag off and replace it with a church flag before taking the coffin to the altar area.
Catholics take any national flag off of the coffin before taking it into the church. They replace it, not with a Vatican flag, but with a white pall. The purpose of the white pall is to recall the baptismal garments.
You may wish to consider Rev 3:4 and Rev 6:9-12 before casting aspersions on something you may not have full understanding of.
It's any secular symbol, not just the US flag. Any national flag, any emblem of a club or a secular honor, etc.
And not all Catholics do that. I can attest to that personally, since it wasn't done at my father's funeral.
No ... we remove ANY secular symbol, and replace it with a white funeral pall (symbolizing the resurrection and recalling the white garment worn at our baptism). It is NOT a "church flag"; indeed there really is no such thing.
What should happen during a Catholic American military veteran's funeral is:
His casket is brought in to the church draped in the US Flag.
The US Flag is removed with appropriate ceremony and replaced with the white Funeral Pall.
The Requiem Mass / Mass of the Resurrection is offered on his behalf.
After the conclusion of the Mass, the white Funeral Pall is removed and replaced with the US Flag.
The casket is removed from the church and either transported directly to the cemetery for burial, or placed in storage awaiting burial at a later date. The latter may be necessitated by weather, or by scheduling concerns at national cemeteries.
This procedure is not intended to be offensive, and should not be taken as such. It is a right ordering of priorities. ANY Christian should see himself as a Christian first, above all else. Placing one's first loyalty to ANY created person, place, or thing rather than to God is idolatry.