Sir, - Your Editorial of March 30th suggests that the Church is supposed to be about people's needs; I would argue that what people want and what they really need are not always the same. The "need" for a eulogy is based on a secular humanist practice exemplified by the funeral of the late Princess of Wales (at which the eulogy was used as an opportunity to attack the Royal family).
Archbishop Brady has rightly pointed out the eulogies are sometimes offensive; I know of an instance during a eulogy in which a person swore from the sanctuary and another in which a family member made an appeal for the legitimacy of euthanasia.
For the non-believer, the only way to keep a loved one alive is to celebrate his or her life in its uniqueness - but once that life is ended there is only the memory of it, hence the importance of a eulogy. For the Christian, however, our value comes from our creation and redemption by God and this is reflected in the liturgy and symbolism employed. For Catholics, the Requiem Mass offers an opportunity to express our hope in the Resurrection and to pray that the deceased person will be freed from their sins.
In the Offertory of the Mass we offer gifts of bread and wine to be transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ - football shirts, knitting needles or (in one case I know off) crates of oranges have no place in the Offertory.
The problem has arisen largely because many of those attending funerals are in practice secular humanists and no longer practising Catholics; not only do they not attend Mass on Sunday but they do not understand or believe in the things that Catholics believe. For such people the Church's liturgy is meaningless. They find it easier to praise each other than to praise God. It is no accident that the public practice of praying for the dead has been replaced by a minute's silence, reflecting as it does belief in nothing.
As usual, The Irish Times has not passed up an opportunity to attack the Catholic Church. Like most eulogies, this is becoming rather boring. - Yours, etc.,
Christopher McCamley, Shrewsbury Manor, Greenhills, Drogheda, Co Louth.