My goodness! What a truly pleasant surprise! A model for others, I hope.

What?!? No Eagle's Wings???

cmb... looks like he was raised up on angel wings instead.

@johnman, did not see all the Selma speech, but I did see him alluding to the verses in Isaiah which on eagles wings is based on.

I actually don't see this as a model funeral liturgy; it's a mixed bag.There is a prelude and postlude, which go against the guidelines. There is no translation or composer given for the offertory piece, which is strangely called by the English term "anthem." And use of the Cecilian movement music of the offertory piece and Perosi (which Cardinal Egan apparently favored, possibly due to his love of Italian opera) is not doing us any favors - it's weak music compared to chant and Renaissance polyphony. The In Paradisum really should have been at the end, rather than at the Song of Farewell, and instead of the triumphant hymn "Sing with all the saints in glory." There are some good things like the Faure and use of the proper communion chant. Besides that, the music was evidently chosen according to the desires of Cardinal Egan and his family, rather than presenting the idea that the church provides one model funeral liturgy for all. Huge event funerals like this are always unique, and should not be seen as models for anything.

Singing In Paradisum at the end wouldn't make sense, since the Cardinal had already been placed in his final resting place there in the Cathedral. The In Paradisum is, I believe, only sung at the end of a Funeral if the body is to leave the church.

The In Paradisum is, I believe, only sung at the end of a Funeral if the body is to leave the church.

@matthewj, wasn't he transferred from before the altar to the crypt? That would still be a procession, even if it doesn't leave the church.

Ritually it would have been better to have both the Rite of Final Commendation (upstairs) and the Rite of Committal (crypt) instead of using the combined Rite of Committal and Final Commendation (a rite often used when there are no other funeral rites at all or when the funeral Mass or liturgy takes place in another city). Using both rites, the In Paradisum would then better serve as the processional chant (perhaps even repeated several times) for the movement to the crypt.

The penitential act is omitted if the reception of the body takes place at the beginning of Mass; usually priests lie in state at the church from the vigil, so the body would already have been there, and so the mass would begin as usual with the entrance procession, and then the greeting, penitential act, etc.

But I do agree that Mass VIII was an odd choice: is the Requiem Kyrie really too hard? A-A-A'-A'-A-B, or A-A-A-A'-A'-A'-A-A-B, really, they couldn't learn it?

At my first church job I got to listen to it four Sundays in a row after the O-C gave notice.

Offensive Coordinator?

Well, I can't complain too much. I think the omission of the Penitential Act whenever another rite precedes is crazy. (Another reason for me to stick to the EF, but hey!) The Requiem Kyrie is fantastically easy, actually... Mass VIII is a particularly odd choice considering it's associated with the Mass of baptized children who die before the age of reason.