Category: Funerals/Burial
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Antonin Scalia & the “Last Rites”
In case you are as frustrated as I am with the glib reporting of “last rites” being administered to Antonin Scalia many hours after his death, or you have your friends asking you about this, here is a quick map from Paul Turner’s website, of the complications surrounding the “last rites”: http://paulturner.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/death.htm
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Gerhard Cartford, rest in peace
One of the saints of the Liturgical Movement in the Lutheran tradition died last Monday.
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The Yale ISM Review, Fall Issue on Water
The Fall issue of The Yale ISM Review asks us to reflect on how we invite people to the waters of baptism, how we conserve the natural gift of water, and how we celebrate the seasons of creation in the church’s worship.
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“for those who today will suffer an unexpected and violent death…”
I wish I had included this petition in my intercessions on Friday, November 13th. I do from time to time. Maybe we all should, every day. Sadly, there is not a day when that prayer would not envelope someone. Yesterday, it would have enveloped over a hundred people in Paris. And maybe the prayer would have allowed…
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Non solum: Cremation
A Pray Tell reader writes about the impact of cremations on funeral praxis.
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Remembering the Dead in the Abbey
I hope there are people around to pray for my wretched soul when I go.
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“Laudato Si” and Liturgical Life — Example 1: Green Burial Practices
Since the publication of Pope Francis’s encyclical “Laudato Si” I have been thinking about how best to spell out this beautiful text for liturgical and devotional practices. Some of this is easily done, since the Pope offers his own examples (especially in the section on “Sacramental Signs and the Celebration of Rest”): pray before meals;…
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Re-Reading Sacrosanctum Concilium: Article 82
The Roman Ritual in use prior to the Second Vatican Council provided funeral prayers for baptized children mostly concentrating on their presumed purity because of their inability to commit actual sins. However the funeral Mass appearing in the Roman Missal did not make any special provision for the burial of children in its texts or…