Archbishop Bans Pop Music At Funerals 38
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."
What happened to News for Nerds? (Score:4, Insightful)
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Some IRL Sith Lords find your lack of faith disturbing. That ticklish feeling in your throat? That's not a cough. That's a warning.
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Means you can only do it at the wake? Not seeing a big deal here. If the Catholic Church wants to keep it's funeral service a solemn occasion, so what?
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I suppose I could agree with that, as long as you could always go to an open source 'non-denominational church ;)
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Yes, because "America, The Beautiful" is sung at OH SO MANY Australian funerals.
not new (Score:4, Informative)
Play your feelings... (Score:1)
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The question is, is it appropriate to a Christian mass?
If not, as the guidelines say, have it before or after.
The guidelines are actually well thought out:
http://www.cam.org.au/guidelines/the-archdiocese-of-melbourne-guidelines-for-catholic-funerals.html [cam.org.au]
I was a bit surprised by the last paragraph, about not scattering ashes. Several Catholics in my family have had their ashes scattered, but, then again, that is in a country where scattering ashes is traditional, whereas these guidelines are for Australia.
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oh bummer.. (Score:2)
Or maybe he just missed the boat. While the Church (the only holy roman one) has their rites and for sure has the right to stick to them, weddings -and also funerals- have become a celebration of the individuals involved. Most priests accept a couple adding "their special song" to the wedding. Why not a last wish at a funeral? A last message to the mourners, a cheer-up maybe?
Why? (Score:1)
Oh, Catholic Chruch (Score:1)
A Louisiana bishop could never do that (Score:1, Interesting)
Yeah, just try passing a ban like that anywhere near New Orleans. The city probably has more Catholic churches than most of Australia and New Orleans Catholics invented the Jazz Funeral which, by design, is a celebration of the life of the deceased.
It *is* a celebration, idiiot (Score:3, Insightful)
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 (Score:4, Insightful)
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!
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I'll fuck wherever I want, thank you.
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I think people get the reason it's not allowed, they disagree with it. You seem incredulous that people want to do things differently than you.
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Lots and lots of people have Catholic family members and other loved ones without being Catholic themselves.
OMG Troll!!1 (Score:2)
I just want to say to the moderators, good job! This guy is clearly posting here just to get a reaction out of us, the very definition of "troll"! Thank you for making sure I don't have to react negatively to opinions.
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A lot of funerals I've been to seem to treat it entirely as a chance to prattle on about God and Jesus
You went to a Catholic service, and they talked about God and Jesus? Huh... what a surprise! Who would've expected that?
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
Um... and at a secular funeral, what else could it possibly have been about?
In conclusion, get a clue.
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My grandmother on my mom's side is a hardcore fundie Christian and she says she wants her funeral to be a celebration of her life, with music and dancing and feasting.
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Then what is it? (Score:2)
If a funeral is not "a celebration of the life of the deceased", then what is it? An opportunity to prattle on about god? Sorry, we already have a day for that. Sunday.
I hope no one listens to this "ban." It's completely ridiculous.
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A catholic funeral is not a celebration of the life of the deceased, no. It's up to them to decide, and they generally won't bury you unless you ask for it before you're dead.
I think it's perfectly OK. What if the person didn't do anything all that notable in his life? In death we are all the same anyway. The funeral seems a good place to recall that.