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1. I couldn't help but feel a touch of disappointment and sadness that Jim Stynes' funeral was not to be held in the Catholic Church, which he had been a part most of his life.
   However, of course his soul will be prayed for by many and God's love for him will be the same.
   I am also a disappointed that we cannot have the funeral mass or service in a Catholic Church to pray for the peace of a person's soul and commemorate their life on earth (within reason).
   Their life, who they were, what they did, is important for the family and friends to share at such a difficult time. We are people on earth as well as souls and God made us this way.
   Most Catholic funerals I go to do both these things. It must be dependent on the priest celebrating the mass or service, which seems confusing.

   Posted By: Cate Wallace

2. I fully agree with what Archbishop Hart says.
   But if I'm not mistaken the use of the term 'Commemoration for the Life' etc had its origins in catholic rituals post Vatican II anyway! Words that we should 'Celebrate the Life' rather than mourn the dead etc etc.
   Did we not start the trend which obviously has got out of hand in recent times.
   Is it simply our egalitarianism running amuck again? I stand to be corrected. Others might be able to show some more light on this.
   

   Posted By: Peter C Donnelly

3. Good on the man. Let us all respect his wishes and move on.
   Any displeasure from the Catholic Church just highlights the pettiness within it still in some parts and its continued thinking that it is the only Church.
   If I was not allowed to include in my service much that is and has been a huge part of my life perhaps I would do the same.

   Posted By: HD

4. My family has been told that my funeral is to be a celebration of my life, my faith, and my love for my family.
   Black is not to be worn and the music will be a selection of religious, classical and secular since God is also God of the classical and secular. They can mourn my death at any other time.
   If my church will not accommodate that, then my funeral will be elsewhere.

   Posted By: Francis

5. I too am disappointed that Jim Stynes funeral will not take place from St Patricks' Cathedral.
   Jim was a cradle, Irish Catholic, a good sportsman, and a generous-spiritd human being.
   I have no 'inside knowledge' but I have a strong hunch that the family's failure to approach authorities at St Patrick's would have been influenced by a perception that narrowly interpreted liturgical protocols would have a dampening effect on a life-giving celebration of the goodness of Jim's life within the rich context of our Catholic tradition.
   Sad, sad. What would Jesus do?

   Posted By: Aengus Kavanagh

6. Just goes to show how outdated the Catholic church is.
   It should be worried about bigger things happening within the Catholic church rather than football scarves and personal eulogies at a funeral.

   Posted By: Joanne

7. What would Jesus do? Aengus, Jesus would probably have said the Kaddish, nice Jewish boy that he was.
   A for disappointment re the lack of a Requiem Mass, Cate, perhaps you and other like-minded folk could organise a memorial Mass at St Patrick's.

   Posted By: JR, Sydney

8. The Catholic Church - to some - has become too restrictive for many people owing to guidelines that do not allow them to have respectful, non religious music/more than one personal tribute at funerals.
   Families feel that this is the last thing on earth that they can do for their loved ones in accordance with the deceased prior requests.
   I see many Catholic funerals now held at funeral parlours to ease tension.
   

   Posted By: SF

9. It's news to me that the Catholic Church forbids the celebration of a life including eulogies and various forms of music.
   This wasn't the case at the Requiem Masses said for my mother and father where there was plenty of eulogising and music of all kinds.
   Btw for the naysayers and those who wish for an uncritical 'equivalence' between Church services on this blog, there is nothing more emotionally and spiritually moving than a Requiem Mass.

   Posted By: deric davidson

10. Frankly, I'm appalled!
    For a young man dying in such prematurely tragic circumstances the only pastoral response should have been a Mass celebrating his life. Indeed, the Catholic Church teaches that the Mass is a liturgical celebration and not an act of worship, which is a Protestant term.
    Good on the Anglicans for doing the right thing by Jim's family, friends and the many thousands who regarded him as a hero; though, judging from some of the above comments, evidently another triumph for the pharisees on our side!

    Posted By: Michael Furtado

11. For those of Irish descent, Jim's funeral would have been more appropriate in St Pat's, but one can see wisdom in his decision to go elsewhere because the great majority of his football friends and acquaintances as well as those many young people he influenced through Reach would not be church going Catholics.
    Obviously too, the service is a public and personal commemoration of his life and work and this does not appear to be possible to celebrate these days in Catholic Churches because of the dictates from Rome.
    One can see connections between these dictates and the recent tinkering with the liturgical responses, based on translations resulting in strange English expressions, such as "and with your spirit" as though we were already disembodied souls.
    The authors of this reactionary return to a long gone mentality (whatever their good intentions) seem to have forgotten that the Lord said that the Sabbath (and all liturgical expression) was made for man, not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27).
    What would they have made of David singing and dancing before the Lord?

    Posted By: Graeme

12. I think Jim's funeral reflects the failure of Vatican II to be realised as the People of God model working to develop a meaningful liturgy which reflects the real life and aspirations of the catholic people.
    I feel sadness for the priests who watch on helplessly as their parishoners reject the dirge imposed on them by an insensitive and out of touch hierachy

    Posted By: bill

13. Having read the above comments, may I say: Let the New Evangelisation begin!
    Let us face the realities of life and death. Let us pray for the living and the dead. Let us recognise that none of us are perfect; and all are in need of reconciliation rather than beatification.
    Let us have a Mass of Christian Burial, a Requiem Mass, and let us have a wake too!
    But please, let's not marry the two, and have a hybrid.

    Posted By: JMC

14. Amen to JMC's comment.

    Posted By: Fr Sean Coyle

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