Sorrow and joy

Conducted by Fr. JOHN SYMON
Question—/ am a member of a discussion group and at a recent meeting we were talking about our Catholic funeral service, and we came to the conclusion that it is too sombre. We Catholics believe that our dead, leaving this life in a state of grace, are united with Our Father for eternity. If this is so, would it be possible for the priest to wear white vestments and for joyful hymns to be sung?
J. C. McD., Glasgow.
Answer—If the bishops of the country permit it, the priest may wear white or any other colour of vestments at the funeral of adults; in the case of infants or young children there is, of course, a longstanding custom of using white.
Further, without permission being required from
anyone more exalted than the parish organist or choirmaster, joyful hymns may certainly be sung. When the very beautiful revised ritual for funerals was published in Latin last year, the accompanying instructions mentioned that the vexed question of the colour of the vestments was to be decided by the bishops on the basis of the two consideration, which from before the time of St. Augustine, have been evident in our Christian tradition of dealing with the burial of the dead.
On the one hand, as common sense suggests, we must do nothing to offend the perfectly proper and natural grief of the bereaved. On the other hand, we must try to make more evident what the Vatican Council called the paschal character of Christian death.
In plain language this simply means that, as we
are not pagans or agnostics, we must express our Christian hope that, as Jesus died and rose again, we who are baptised into Him will rise again from death and live for ever with God.
What appeals to some people may be abhorrent to others and the first consideration, about possible offence to the natural grief of the bereaved, is not out of place. Our present liturgical rules allow black or purple, and I have heard dismay expressed by the mourners after a funeral because the priest had chosen purple for the Mass, instead of the more usual black. Had he appeared in white. I wonder what they would have said!
The question of music and singing is one on which the Latin Mass enthusiasts may properly take a welldeserved bow. Our English liturgy is a recent growth and so it is understandably drab and makeshift.
On the other hand, given the recent demise of the "Dies irae" and one or two other pieces, the sung Latin funeral liturgy is full of joy and hope and consolation.
To be practical, our popular Catholic tradition hardly eaters for any singing, joyful or otherwise, at funerals. To hear the note of Easter joy expressed in song at a funeral, we need to go either to a monastery where the chant is in Latin, or to certain at least of the churches of our Anglican or Protestant brethren, or to various Catholic centres on the Continent.
Where the resources are available, at a funeral Mass celebrated in English there is no reason why certain pieces should not be sung in Latin. What is more, suitable Catholic chants in English for funerals are few in number but they are there for those who care to look. Third, in view of the flexibility of the new liturgical rules, we ought to be using or adapting the funeral music of other Christians.
Of course, this talk of joy and hope at a Catholic funeral does not imply that the traditional teaching on purgatory has been abandoned and, as I have received several questions on this very point, I propose to deal with it next week.