Sir, – The General Instruction of the Roman Missal was issued by Rome in 2002 in Latin, and published in English by the conference of Irish Catholic Bishops in 2005. It would appear to be yet another of the Catholic Church's well-kept secrets. In the nine years since it was published, I have heard only one person mention it in the context of a talk on the liturgy and that person was not a priest.
Paragraph 382 reads: “At the funeral Mass there should, as a rule, be a short homily, but never a eulogy of any kind”.
The dictionary definition of eulogy is “A speech or writing in praise of a person”. There is a time and place for a member of the family of the deceased to saw “a few words” either before the start of the requiem Mass or immediately after the end of Mass and before the Rite of Final Commendation or farewell.
In his memoirs, Pope Benedict wrote: “I am convinced that the crisis in the Church that we are experiencing today is, to a large extend, due to the disintegration of the liturgy”. It is hardly surprising that when the Archbishop of Dublin visits his parishes, he brings his own master of ceremonies with him.
When proper protocol in the sanctuary goes, belief in the supernatural goes. – Yours, etc,
GERRY GLENNON,
Auburn Road,
Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin.