Moderators: Dom Perignon, Casimir
Peter Jones wrote:Southern Comfort wrote:Commmendation of the Dying
I'm just wondering now how many Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist are aware of their role as ministers of Viaticum.
So what of those folk who are beyond receiving the Eucharist?JW wrote:But lay ministers can't anoint the sick or grant absolution. Good pastoral care of the dying involves all 3 sacraments.
Peter Jones wrote:Southern Comfort wrote:Commmendation of the Dying
I'm just wondering now how many Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist are aware of their role as ministers of Viaticum.
JW wrote:
But lay ministers can't anoint the sick or grant absolution. Good pastoral care of the dying involves all 3 sacraments.
The church is in danger of depriving the faithful of the sacraments intended by Christ for all. This is a fiasco as far as its ordained ministries are concerned.
IT HAS EMERGED that lay people will start to conduct funeral services in the Archdiocese of Liverpool. Twenty-two lay funeral ministers, both men and women, have been commissioned to lead funeral services where there is no Requiem Mass and no priest available.
The move, which comes into effect in the autumn, is due to the declining number of priests and the large number of funerals that take place in parts of the archdiocese. In some parishes there are more than 100 funerals a year, leaving priests overburdened with work.
A new leaflet issued by the archdiocese, “Planning a Catholic Funeral”, explains that a lay funeral minister can lead the prayer vigil before a funeral, a funeral service and the committal, the prayers said at the graveside. Lay ministers will only lead a funeral service if there is no priest available.
The leaflet states that a funeral will not necessarily be a Requiem Mass or “Funeral Mass” “if the majority of the mourners would not be able to participate fully in a Mass, or if no priest is available ...” It may instead be a “Funeral service led by a lay funeral minister or a deacon”.
The leaflet adds: “It cannot be guaranteed that all the deceased’s wishes will be fulfilled, even where a pre-paid funeral plan has been arranged.”
The Archdiocese of Liverpool, the traditional heartland of Catholicism in England and Wales, has seen a steep decline in the number of priests in recent years. It is predicted that by 2015 the number of priests will decline from 170 to 100. A spokesman for the archdiocese said that the decision was taken to commission lay ministers by the Archbishop of Liverpool, Patrick Kelly, fol- lowing a consultation and discussions with his Council of Priests. The ministers were commissioned by the archbishop at a special service at the Carmelite Monastery in St Helen’s, Merseyside.
“They are specifically trained to lead funeral services with an appropriate Liturgy of the Word, readings and prayers,” said the spokesman. He stressed, however, that the lay ministers were not compulsory but only to be offered to those who wanted them.
Church rules allow for lay leadership of funerals – the vigil, service and committal – where there is no priest or deacon available. The practice takes place in other parts of the world including Australia where there are few priests. Liverpool, however, is believed to be the first diocese in England and Wales to formally commission lay funeral ministers.
Fr Graeme Dunne, who is in charge of three parishes in Liverpool and a member of the Council of Priests, said he has around 125 funerals a year and no longer has a deacon to assist him. “It was a case that we felt sooner or later this [lay funeral ministers] was some- thing that was going to become a reality,” he said. “We could muddle on for another couple of years but sooner or later some priests are going to become overwhelmed.” He said the move was also about helping parishes develop bereavement teams.
We looked again at the Order of Christian Funerals (OCF). This was first published in 1990 and envisages, in article 14 of the intro- duction, that a lay person may lead parts of the funeral rites. The whole Catholic community joins with those who are bereaved in their grief and offers a range of ways to give thanks to God for the deceased’s life, to ask for the forgiveness of their sins and to affirm our hope in the resurrection. The OCF gives us a diversity of rites involving various people. There are three main stages: a Prayer Vigil, usually the evening before the funeral; the Funeral Liturgy, which may be a Mass or a Liturgy of the Word; and the Committal at the cemetery or crematorium.
The OCF, however, places great emphasis upon the wise and appropriate use of the variety of funeral rites; the celebration of a Requiem Mass may not, for a myriad of rea- sons, be the most appropriate means of celebrating the funeral of a particular individual.
Where there is not the possibility of a priest to celebrate the funeral Mass, or it is judged that the funeral liturgy outside Mass is a more suitable form of celebration, then it is commended that there should be a Mass celebrated for the deceased at the earliest convenient time (OCF #189 ).
The only folk I've heard loudly demanding this tend to be – although, obviously not always – non-Church-goers. There were those who objected to a Funeral Service led by the deacon but who then hadn't the foggiest idea what was happening at a Funeral Mass celebrated by the priest.JW wrote:To what extent will a family's wishes be complied with if they insist on a Requiem/Funeral Mass?
Nick Baty wrote:I'll be happy if whoever happens to be at my bedside at the time (that's taking the optimistic view) simply prays, "God be good to him".
How do you know? Why would he have instituted the Petrine Office - and made it available - if it is unnecessary?Nick Baty wrote:Thankfully, the Lord isn't so fussy.
That would be a rather brief Funeral Service!musicus wrote:Can we move on now, please?
