Funerals that celebrate the life of notorious criminals are “particularly hurtful” to parishioners who see their church “taken over by those who prey on the community”, according to a Dublin-based priest.
Fr Joe Keegan CC in Cabra West has called for Irish bishops to take a harder stance on what is permitted at funerals as in churches people are “boasting of the harm” caused by criminals.
“People are entitled to a Christian funeral, like someone who has had a bad past, but the assumption is that they are certainly not celebrating their bad past, they are asking for forgiveness for anything they have done,” Fr Keegan said.
Auxiliary Bishop of Armagh Michael Router, who is the Vice Chair of the Irish Bishops’ Drugs Initiative, told The Irish Catholic that all are entitled to a Christian funeral regardless of their past, but when it comes to criminality there should be “no glorification of their lifestyle”.
The bishop said: “I realise very often that both pastoral councils and priests may feel intimidated if they try and stand against local drug dealers or gangs in terms of giving them what they want, and sometimes they will just go ahead and do things anyway that would be totally against our understanding of what would be a respectful and proper Christian funeral.”
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