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Views from the Choir Loft

Funerals: The Most Challenging Pastoral Responsibility

Richard J. Clark · March 22, 2019

E HAVE ALL been there. As pastoral musicians, at times one experiences particularly difficult and emotional funerals. They could include the death of a child or bright promising young adult. There is devastating tragedy and those who battled illness or addiction. Maybe it is a parent of young children. Such funerals can weigh the heavily upon a priest, pastoral staff, and a volunteer bereavement ministry.

Meanwhile, the grieving are not liturgical experts, nor should they be. Also challenging is navigating societal customs and expectations imposed upon Roman Catholic funerals, such as celebrating one’s life or memorializing the deceased with personal preferences. Understandably lost in a sea of grief may be the centrality of Christ and an understanding of praying for the soul of the deceased—a great act of love. The beauty of the Roman Catholic funeral is that we place the Eucharist at the center even in death—especially in death. The focus on Christ in the Funeral Mass is a priceless gem, a lifeline in grief.

But fielding requests for liturgically inappropriate music is the norm. How does one tell the mother who has lost a child that certain music is not appropriate or allowed at the Funeral Mass?

HIS TOPIC DESERVES volumes, but such challenges can be distilled with the great salutary effects a musician’s pastoral presence. Meeting with or speaking directly with a family may have as much healing impact as the particular outcome of the discussion. It requires diplomacy, empathy, patience, experience, and an arsenal of alternate suggestions at hand to gently guide a grieving family toward a funeral Mass that truly places Christ at the center. Ideally, this is accomplished with music that “should console and uplift the grieving while expressing a spirit of hope in the Christian’s share in Christ’s victory over death.” (Order of Christian Funerals #31, emphasis added)

Additionally, there are multiple views on the word “pastoral.” The common perspective is to allow what is less than ideal for reasons of accommodation. But a second is often overlooked: to model and offer the ideal whenever possible. (With funerals, it is often a combination of the two. And both views require a personal presence!) Placing Christ at the center of our sacred music is a pastoral responsibility. It speaks universally regardless of one’s religious inclination or practice. Consciously or not, hope, comfort, and joyful hope of sharing in Christ’s resurrection is a pastoral response. This pastoral response flows though for music that is 1) sacred, 2) beautiful, and 3) universal. (Tra le Sollecitudini §1-2)

Related Article: • Ministry of Consolation • A Case for Congregational Singing at Funerals


UPDATED FUNERAL POLICY • ARCHDIOCESE OF BOSTON

      * *   In December of 2018, the Archdiocese of Boston released an updated funeral policy that covers a broad range of issues. You can download it here.

Pages 13 and 14 address “Music in the Funeral Mass.” It’s important to note there is truly nothing new here. Why? “The same liturgical norms applied to music at any Mass apply to the Funeral Mass.” I.e., the liturgy documents, e.g., Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy apply for funerals. Notable is §6 which discusses the three judgments for selecting music as indicated in the 2007 US Bishops’ document Sing to the Lord: Music in Divine Worship (SttL): 1) Pastoral Judgment, 2) Liturgical Judgment, and 3) Musical Judgment.

Also notable is §9 which address the prohibition on secular music (and recorded music in §10):

The request for “favorite songs” of the deceased often result in inappropriate performances of music incapable of bearing the weight liturgy demands. Secular music, even if personally meaningful to the deceased or mourners, is never appropriate for the Sacred Liturgy. (SttL #246) Popular songs, sentimental ethnic music, songs from theater or film, and even non-liturgical or quasi-religious music are never to substitute for music of the funeral liturgy. Furthermore, “music should never be used to memorialize the deceased, but rather to give praise to the Lord, whose Paschal Sacrifice has freed us from the bonds of death.” (SttL #248)


“WHAT MUSIC IS APPROPRIATE FOR THE FUNERAL OF A LOVED ONE?”

IT IS WISE to develop a good relationship with funeral directors. This will assist in offering appropriate guidance and help to the grieving. To distill a lengthy and dry document, I have offered the following words on “What music is appropriate for a funeral of a loved one?” You can download it here. This also includes some suggested music for the Cathedral of the Holy Cross. Feel free to incorporate this or similar language for your parish.

HE CHALLENGE for pastoral musicians at times is to “do it all”: integrate personal compassion and empathy with liturgical and musical expertise, while gently guiding those in grief to the joy and consolation of Christ. One never fully knows the pain and suffering of those who enter the doors of our churches. Our service is an act of love and charity. This is our call.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Order of Christian Funerals Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Richard J. Clark

Richard J. Clark is the Director of Music of the Archdiocese of Boston and the Cathedral of the Holy Cross.—(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    PDF Download • “Polyphonic Extension” (Kevin Allen) for Gloria III
    EVIN ALLEN was commissioned by Sacred Music Symposium 2025 to compose a polyphonic ‘middle section’ for the GLORIA from Mass III (“Kyrie Deus sempiterne”). This year, I am traveling from Singapore to serve as a member of the faculty. I will be conducting Palestrina’s ‘Ave Maria’ as well as teaching plainsong to the men. A few days ago, I was asked to record rehearsal videos for this beautiful polyphonic extension. Instructions • This polyphonic composition fits ‘inside’ GLORIA III. That is, the congregation sings for the beginning and end, but the choir alone adds polyphony to the middle. The easiest way to understand how everything fits together is by examining this congregational insert. Feel free to download the score, generously made available (free of charge) to the world by CORPUS CHRISTI WATERSHED:
    *  PDF Download • Gloria III ‘Middle Section’ (Kevin Allen)
    Free rehearsal videos for each individual voice await you at #24366. Related News • My colleague, Jeff Ostrowski, composed an organ accompaniment for this same GLORIA a few months ago. Obviously, the organist should drop out when the polyphony is being sung.
    —Corrinne May
    “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
    I was asked to create a booklet for my parish to use during our CORPUS CHRISTI PROCESSION on 22 June 2025. Would you be willing to look over the DRAFT BOOKLET (16 pages) I came up with? I tried to include a variety of hymns: some have a refrain; some are in major, others in minor; some are metered, others are plainsong; some are in Spanish, some are in Latin, but most are in English. Normally, we’d use the Brébeuf Hymnal—but we can’t risk having our congregation carry those heavy books all over the city to various churches.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Yahweh” in church songs?
    My pastor asked me to write a weekly column for our parish bulletin. The one scheduled to run on 22 June 2025 is called “Three Words in a Psalm” and speaks of translating the TETRAGRAMMATON. You can read the article at this column repository. All of them are quite brief because I was asked to keep within a certain word limit.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    When to Sit, Stand and Kneel like it’s 1962
    There are lots of different guides to postures for Mass, but I couldn’t find one which matched our local Latin Mass, so I made this one: sit-stand-kneel-crop
    —Veronica Brandt
    The Funeral Rites of the Graduale Romanum
    Lately I have been paging through the 1974 Graduale Romanum (see p. 678 ff.) and have been fascinated by the funeral rites found therein, especially the simply-beautiful Psalmody that is appointed for all the different occasions before and after the funeral Mass: at the vigil/wake, at the house of the deceased, processing to the church, at the church, processing to the cemetery, and at the cemetery. Would that this “stational Psalmody” of the Novus Ordo funeral rites saw wider usage! If you or anyone you know have ever used it, please do let me know.
    —Daniel Tucker

Random Quote

“Urban VIII appointed four Jesuits to reform the hymns, so that they should no longer offend Renaissance ears. These four, in that faithful obedience to the Holy See which is the glory of their Society, with a patient care that one cannot help admiring, set to work to destroy every hymn in the office.”

— Fr. Adrian Fortescue (1916)

Recent Posts

  • PDF Download • “Polyphonic Extension” (Kevin Allen) for Gloria III
  • “Booklet of Eucharistic Hymns” (16 pages)
  • PDF Download • “Text by Saint Francis of Assisi” (choral setting w/ organ: Soprano & Alto)
  • “Yahweh” in church songs?
  • “Music List” • Pentecost Sunday

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