OLLOWING VATICAN II, the funeral Mass was heavily modified. To be honest, it was changed so drastically it no longer bore much resemblance to the original. (A few changes were recently discussed here.) Many feel that, more than any other rite, the “Order of Christian Funerals” needs revision. The traditional REQUIEM MASS was much stronger and more impressive—from a theological standpoint—than the post-conciliar rite. Indeed, Hannibal Bugnini admitted that the traditional prayers were “familiar and even beloved” (his words) by the faithful … as he bragged about eliminating them!
USCCB National Survey • The USCCB Secretariat of Divine Worship is conducting a national service with regard to the ORDER OF CHRISTIAN FUNERALS (Missa in exséquiis). Everyone is encouraged to take the survey using the following link:
* National Survey • “Order of Christian Funerals”
—Conducted by the USCCB Secretariat of Divine Worship.
Any Real Hope? • For many decades, the USCCB Secretariat of Divine Worship was run by men later revealed to be—if you’ll forgive my bluntness—unethical and corrupt. In recent years, however, several excellent, knowledgeable, and honorable people have been appointed to that committee. For this reason, I encourage everyone to take the survey.
Purpose Of The Survey
It’s unclear what this survey hopes to accomplish.1 Readers will recall that, following the Second Vatican Council, the ORDO EXSEQUIARUM was never translated into English. Over the decades, conflicting explanations have been given for why it was never translated. For myself, I believe the actual answer isn’t a mystery, thanks to the 1987 book by Father Frederick R. McManus (who controlled the committee for many decades). In that book, McManus says over and over again the ancient prayers of the Roman Rite are no good. Therefore, according to McManus, we must start from scratch. He constantly claims that “true renewal” (his words) will never come until we eliminate the ancient prayers and replace them with ‘American’ prayers created out of whole cloth. My understanding is that McManus’s scheme succeeded vis-à-vis the ORDO EXSEQUIARUM. In other words, in the English edition, paraphrases and new texts were substituted for the official rite. This was the great ‘moment of triumph’ for McManus, especially because most Catholics wrongly assumed the texts in the “ORDER OF CHRISTIAN FUNERALS” were translations of the ORDO EXSEQUIARUM.
Apparently, ICEL has created a new version of the ORDO EXSEQUIARUM, which they call the ‘Green Book’. Some believe they have translated faithfully the ORDO EXSEQUIARUM, but others claim ICEL has created new prayers—called “adaptations.” That’s rather terrifying considering ICEL’s track record.
Jeff’s Responses
Some responses I gave:
(1) Although ‘Limbo’ isn’t an official Church teaching, PURGATORY most certainly is. We desperately need more of the traditional REQUIEM prayers, especially those which emphasize praying for the dead. It’s difficult to think of anything more cruel than “canonizing” those who have died.
(2) At the very least, traditional chants such as the DIES IRAE should be included as options. This is doubly true considering that—for reasons which have never been explained in a satisfactory way—the bishops’ conference seems determined to solicit brand new prayers invented out of whole cloth by ICEL. Hannibal Bugnini himself admitted that the traditional REQUIEM prayers were “familiar and even beloved” (his words) by the faithful, even as he bragged about eliminating them.
For example, consider this beautiful excerpt from the DIES IRAE:
“It was me You were seeking out
when, exhausted, You sat by the
well; me that You redeemed when
You suffered on the cross. Do not
allow such toil to have been in vain.”
Vatican II solemnly declared: There must be no innovations unless the good of the Church genuinely and certainly requires them. Did the good of the faithful “genuinely and certainly require” the suppression of the DIES IRAE? Did the good of the faithful “genuinely and certainly require” eliminating references to PURGATORY and praying for the dead?
(3) It is not true the conference lacks power to change the rites by emphasizing the more traditional prayers. As has already been mentioned, the ORDER OF CHRISTIAN FUNERALS for the last 55 years has included “adaptations” (which were paraphrases and new prayers created by ICEL) although very few people realized it. Moreover, the post-conciliar rites have been modified before; e.g. the changes made to the Ordo Lectionum Missae by the Vatican in 1981.
Indeed, the American bishops introduced a (very unfortunate) “reform of the reform” in 2011, when they explicitly allowed propers from the Missal to be sung at Mass. It will be remembered that propria printed in the Missal were intended for “spoken” or “recited” Masses, whereas for sung Masses the propers are supposed to be taken from the ORDO CANTUS MISSAE (1969). The post-conciliar chants have been conveniently printed in the post-conciliar GRADUALE ROMANUM. (Vernacular versions are found at the feasts website.)
(4) It looks quite absurd to see an urn of ashes being sprinkled at funerals. If cremation is necessary (e.g. owing to a pandemic) the ashes should be placed underneath a catafalque to restore basic decency. Cremation ought to be deprecated because the church speaks of “burying” the dead.
(5) Ferdinando Cardinal Antonelli wrote as follows regarding those who modified the funeral rites after Vatican II: “The most acute deficiency in the Consilium ad exsequendam Constitutionem de Sacra Liturgia is the lack of theologians. In fact, it could be said that they had been excluded altogether, which is something dangerous. In the liturgy, every word and every gesture expresses an idea which is always a theological idea.”
Cardinal Antonelli, because he was appointed by Pope Saint Paul VI as “Secretary of the Conciliar Commission on the Liturgy” on 4 October 1962, was uniquely positioned to make that comment about the theologians being deliberately “excluded” (his word). Could this explain why the ORDO EXSEQUIARUM does not emphasize praying for the dead?
Conclusion • Sometimes church surveys have the opposite effect. Let’s hope that’s not the case this time! For example, during the ‘synodal’ period, Catholics were told to let church authorities know their desires and what helps them spiritually. But when it was discovered that many young Catholics value the traditional and ancient prayers, those in authority persecuted them in an unprecedented, ruthless, shameful way. Indeed, when he saw what was being done to TLM Catholics, Robert Cardinal Sarah (who’d been hand-picked by Pope Francis to be his chief liturgist at the Vatican) called such persecution “satanic.” So let’s hope this survey does some good.
1 They write as follows: The following national survey seeks to gather information about current pastoral practices related to the “ORDER OF CHRISTIAN FUNERALS” and to evaluate the adequacy and usefulness of the liturgical texts. This survey will accompany the ICEL Green Book translation of the ORDO EXSEQUIARUM to assist the bishops in updating the “ORDER OF CHRISTIAN FUNERALS” according to the principles of LITURGIAM AUTHENTICAM, pastoral need, and practice. For clarity, the survey is divided into two major sections: Section I focuses on the liturgical texts of the ORDER OF CHRISTIAN FUNERALS; Section II focuses on pastoral practice and how these rites are celebrated in ministry.
