Posted on 08/29/2009 4:48:47 AM PDT by NYer
Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley of Boston will preside at the funeral of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy tomorrow at the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help (the Mission Church). The Rev. J. Donald Monan, a Jesuit priest who was the longtime president of Boston College and is now the chancellor, will be the principal celebrant. And the Rev. Mark R. Hession, pastor of Our Lady of Victory Parish in Centerville, will deliver the homily.
PROGRAM DETAILS:
First Reading: Curran Raclin, stepson
Responsorial: Kara Kennedy Allen, daughter
Second Reading: Caroline Raclin, stepdaughter
Homily: Rev. Mark Hession
Intercessory Prayers: Kennedy's four grandchildren, and the youngest grandchild of each of his siblings, will read quotes from his speeches. (The family chose to honor the youngest children because Kennedy was the youngest in his family.)
Offertory: Grandchildren
Music by Yo-Yo Ma
Communion
Music by Placido Domingo accompanied by the Tanglewood Festival Chorus
"Ave Maria" by Susan Graham of the Metropolitan Opera
Tribute: Edward M. Kennedy Jr. and US Representative Patrick J. Kennedy (sons)
Eulogy: President Obama
Song: America the Beautiful
ANALYSIS:
The family and church officials have essentially chosen to split the roles three ways. Cardinal O'Malley, because of his role as the archbishop of Boston, will technically preside over the funeral, but Fathers Monan and Hession, who had closer relationships with Senator Kennedy, will be far more visible to casual viewers of the liturgy. Monan will celebrate the Mass, which will include presiding over the congregation and reciting the prayers of the Mass and being at the center of the altar during the Eucharist. Hession will deliver the homily, and his task will be to take the readings of the day and apply them to the moment.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Correction: Another black eye for the cesspool known as the Archdiocese of Boston which in the grand scheme of things is but a speck of dust in the Church.
Waiting for a message
I know it will never come
Even with the ninety nine
I feel the loss of even one
No need to keep us in suspense
The seed has died through indifference
And now we'll reap what you have sowed
I'll take my tears and let you go
Every day another nail is hammered
Every day another nail is hammered
...there were two walking in
the field on that judgement
day, one was taken by surprise
as the other simply walked
away...
Disaster after disaster
Every day another nail is hammered
-- "Another Nail" by the Seventy-Sevens, from the album All Fall Down
The “Prayers of the Faithful” were for universal health care and gay rights.
O’Malley sitting there, as my late father used to say, looking like a big stupid Santa Claus at the Mall.
Pathetic beyond belief.
Gospel from Matthew 25 .... “the least of my brothers and sisters” apparently not including the millions of unborn children slaughtered under legislation the Sainted Senator championed.
You look at this and wonder why pro-life Catholics even bother, and what must non-Catholics think? Talk about shredding whatever credibility or authenticity we are still struggling to maintain.
A sad day indeed.
And this pathetic excuse for a Cardinal ought to be thoroughly ashamed of himself for not having monitored a liturgical rite being celebrated not only in his Archdiocese but in his very presence!
SHAME!
Excellent comment. Cover the crucifixes and hold a political rally. I refuse to watch this desecration.
What a disgrace.I did not watch any of it.
Nicely put.
I know little of Abp. O'Malley, but I am very sorry to see that he has decided to participate in such a mockery. All we can do is pray for him and the innocent dupes who have been sucked into this personality-cult travesty. (walks away shaking head...)
You are so right. The bishops in this country have been shills for socialism for years, and the socialist infiltration into the American Church is heartbreaking. Boston isn't the only pile-of-dung diocese in the country. Mpls/StP was another one, as, of course, is LA under Mahony. That generation of bishops is going to have a lot to answer for. I've many times expressed the wish to be a mouse in the corner at their judgment.
This behavior truly does diminish the Church in the eyes of onlookers. Giving scandal is also a grave sin, and these bishops who have not only allowed but condoned and participated in the heresy, sin, and mockery of their dioceses will answer to the Lord. For us still on earth, is is a heartbreaking thing to watch them willfully and deliberately drag the Church into the muck for their misbegotten "ideals." The American Church is struggling to restore its reputation, but bishops like these continue to thwart that effort.
This is a classic example for why it would have been good for the Archdiocese of Boston to follow the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, which reads:
382. At the Funeral Mass there should, as a rule, be a short homily, but never a eulogy of any kind.
A eulogy can still be delivered, of course, at the cemetary.
The GIRM also says:
385. ...Pastors should, moreover, take into special account those who are present at a liturgical celebration or who hear the Gospel on the occasion of the funeral and who may be non-Catholics or Catholics who never or rarely participate in the Eucharist or who seem even to have lost the faith. For priests are ministers of Christ’s Gospel for all.
In other words - the GIRM wants preaching to the congregation instead of the congregation (Mr. Obama) doing the preaching.
...a den of thieves indeed...
Some will use this as a way to attack the Catholic Church. But, these thieves are in every church hierarchy...they sit beside you in church.
These thieves are Catholic and Protestant, Orthodox and Methodist...the list too big to contemplate.
...the meek shall inherit the earth...
...and camels don’t enter the heads of needles easily...
I think of family and friends stricken by cancer and other disease, loyal to Christ in their Catholic faith and their committment and work for the unborn babies and for the downtrodden....then I think of Ted Kennedy and Archbishops...but I don’t know who I feel more sorry for...The Kennedy’s or the priests presiding over this Funeral Mass and its mockery.
Cardinal O’Malley was sitting off to the side. He did not preside. It was not in the Cathedral, but in the Mission Church/Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Gosh, do you think Kennedy will need that perpetual help in Purgatory?
That is, if he received the Sacrament of the Sick and his sins were forgiven.
>>And deathbed confession usually leak out<<
I see you’re making this up as you go along.
You may have “grown up Catholic” but you are clueless about the Catholic church.
Ted Kennedy owed you nothing. His immortal soul’s place is between him and God. You are being just a bit egotistical to think that YOU know Kennedy’s heart.
Tomasi may or may not be Catholic. I don’t know.
But I can’t find much to argue with in his post...he is hitting the nailhead regarding corruption. I also don’t see where he is judging Kennedy’s heart, but using rational thought to presume or not presume an overt act of contrition.
Perhaps I’m missing something but here is his post again.
“Let me add, which is why the hierarchy of the American RCC turns me off. Honoring corrupt men of power while getting pissed on makes for a weak Church. The autonomy of American Catholic dioceses needs to be reigned in big time. RCC’rs have full fledged approval to vote for leaders like Kennedy, who through his actions, used the Church as a urinal instituted by his policies and presumably “generous donations” in order to establish Spiritual “credibility”.
It starts with Churches comprised of strong convictions who show tough love that educates and lead. All we get here is corruption due to a weak Church, ignoring the bad while praising dependency of social justice through a noxious earthly bureaucracy.
And deathbed confession usually leak out. Read multiple examples and indeed if Kennedy had actually repented will be with Christ. Question, as a leader with great influence, should one make his repentance of policies that were at war with God public? Any proper Priest would urge him to do so as part of the repentance process (Even on his/hers deathbed through some type of correspondence), being a law maker and all.
I can.
Follow the posts back.
This isn’t about corruption but whether a person needs to confess publicly for forgiveness before he dies.
No one owes another person a confession.
I don’t know when your wife’s grandmother died, but it’s possible that the current set of instructions weren’t out at that time. The limitation was imposed as a result, as usual, of the abuses; funeral masses were turning into a three ring circus of long meandering anecdotes, people waving a can of the deceased’s favorite brand of beer, and even a steady stream of jokes about the dear departed.
Strictly speaking, I doubt that eulogies were ever allowed officially, simply because the Mass is a liturgical event and there really isn’t room for these personal insertions in it. However, as with everything else in Church in the 60s and 70s, everybody did whatever felt good to them at the time.
Even currently, while the instructions are generally followed in most places, I still hear of three ring circus funerals. In other words, practice can vary.
Your posts are obviously correct regarding confession.
However, the Notre Dame debacle and now this mockery of a Catholic Funeral Mass chips away at the credibility of some in the Church’s hierarchy.
This Mass should have been private and not turned into a farce, as it was. From the hyperbolic praise of Kennedy and listing of “achievements” to the omission of his transgressions and contempt for the Church on the issues of Life and the innocent.
This act by our hierarchy only weakens the church and legitimizes the Pro Abortion Catholic lie. As in life, Kennedy led his minions astray in death. The Church followed along like lemmings to the Kennedy tune.
If the priests found talking about the truth uncomfortable, then the private funeral Mass option should have been used.
jmo
May God have mercy on this man’s soul and all of us.
>>Your posts are obviously correct regarding confession.<<
Yes. If you would like to hold another conversation please respond to the other poster. He was holding a little conversation all by himself. You’re welcome to join him.
I’m saying that I’m not judging TMK because it is not my place.
They whole funeral mass thing was horrible, but not unexpected. MA Catholics are not the whole church.
Well, nearly 50 percent of Catholics seem to agree with the Bostonian/Mass Church on many matters, so we ignore reality at our own peril.
>>Well, nearly 50 percent of Catholics seem to agree with the Bostonian/Mass Church on many matters, so we ignore reality at our own peril.<<
There is nothing we can do about this on a “churchwide scale”
Volunteer to teach CCD. That is the best you can do.
I do. I don’t have a classroom but I do testing.
Do you?
I’m glad you do what you can do. I choose to attack the problem in a more direct fashion.
I applaud your work with CCD.
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