In AmChurch, darn near everything can be appropriated for liturgy and exonerated. Kvetching about this or that, especially as regards funerals, reminds of spitting into the wind and Westboro Baptist.
The farthest from chant, polyphony, and solid hymnody I would go is the Pie Iesu/Agnus Dei by Lloyd Webber. But that isn’t too shabby all things considered...
and the question which must not be asked: why is America obsessing over the natural death of a fairly minor politician? It's a tragedy for the Biden family, and quite possibly an eternal tragedy for the deceased. But it's of absolutely no importance to the rest of the country.
Jeffrey, we don't part company on much, but it is a loss for the Biden family. It is no more tragedy than my father's and father in law's suicides or my mother's Bataan march to lung cancer. And there's only an illusion of obsession. (see "Satan's biggest trick.") Like I tried to say in a genteel manner, grousing over any of this "coverage," be it Biden's, JFK's, Teddy's or other famed "RC" funerals, is not an occasion for righteous indignation. At best, it only compounds a pathetic reality as regards how we regard death and transfiguration. I should listen to Strauss tonight just for its poignancy.
I would never know that these songs existed were it not for their appearance here. Some, not all, but some, have said that I was 'out of touch'. I think that if this is being 'in touch' I'd rather not be. These people apparently have no concept of what a Christian, Catholic or otherwise, funeral is. They are really 'out of touch'.
I must disagree with Jeffrey. The death of our Vice-President's son is a legitimate occasion for a normal outpouring of national sympathy. This doesn't imply that we think much of the politics of the VP or his son.
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