a couple more

[calimac]

points about the funeral I attended yesterday.

1. The priest gave the Gospel reading out of a small white three-ring binder. It has more impact when it comes from a gigantic gilt-edged tome.

2. A daughter sang Schubert's Ave Maria. There's a difference between a vibrato and a warble.

3. The closing hymn was "When the Saints Go Marching In." Never heard that at a funeral before. Catholics do not sing with gusto.

Comments

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

Your last sentence illustrates your gift for understatement.

[shelleybear.livejournal.com]

They sing quietly. Their heads bent and mumble frequently least their song might be labeled a sin.

*H.H.O.K.*

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

The theory I've heard is that it began with the Irish declining to sing because the English sang. The Catholic Church in the US was founded by Irish, and, centuries and an accretion of many other ethnic groups later, they're still unconsciously trying to show up the English by not singing.

[shelleybear.livejournal.com]

Such dour people.

[margdean56.livejournal.com]

I remember my late father telling a story about how he and some other Presbyterian clergy visited (I think it was) an Episcopal church. There were he and the other Presbyterians lustily belting out the hymns, while the rest of the congregation ... yes, "mumbled" would probably be a good word for it, from what I recall of his description.

[sturgeonslawyer.livejournal.com]

It's really sad when a white Catholic choir tries to sing a Gospel song...

[wild-patience.livejournal.com]

"When the Saints Go Marching In" was also sung at the funeral of the son of the deceased. (As was the same daughter/sister's "Ave Maria." To be charitable, she feels things very strongly and I like to assume she is overcome by emotion when she sings.)

I told you of the time I was in a (Catholic, of course) church in Oakland. Martin Luther Day weekend. Half the congregation is black. Closing hymn: "We Shall Overcome." It was so tepid, it might have been sung by 80-year-old white grannies with asthma. It truly is a Catholic thing. (Which probably explains why children tend to turn around and stare at me in church when I sing.)