Death of a funeral tradition

The latest pronouncement on funerals demonstrates a Church hierarchy that seems to be turning inwards, away from aspects of Irish culture that many hold dear, writes Claire O’Sullivan

A RELATION of mine rang me a number of years ago. She mentioned that she’d been at a funeral in the UK a few days previously.

“God, funerals are awful here,” she mused. “Quick, sterile, hardly anyone there, and just so cold. They may complain about Catholic Ireland but the Catholic Church knows how to celebrate a life.”