My parish is holding a funeral for a priest of the archdiocese on Thursday. Our archbishop will be coming to preside. In what ways will this be different from a regular, run-of-the-mill funeral?
Should I contact the Archbishop's Master of Ceremonies? This is the first time I've done the music for a Mass with a bishop or archbishop, so I'm moderately clueless :)
Musically speaking, it shouldn't be much different. There may be different texts for some of the prayers, and maybe the psalm, but that would be something you could probably check in the ritual book or lectionary, which I don't have handy.
I assisted at 2 separate bishops' funerals in last year (quite a rarity, as you might imagine), and didn't notice anything different with the music, and only a few small changes with the other things in the sanctuary from a normal funeral (besides all of the concelebrants)...
If an episcopal funeral is the same (more or less) as a regular funeral, it's a pretty good assumption that a priest's funeral is the same. :)
That being said, it never hurts to contact the diocese if you have questions.
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