Scotland Preparing For Lay-Led Funerals
Galloway prepares for funerals without priests.
Galloway Diocese is training up laity to carry out funeral services without a priest.
Last week the first lay Catholics attended funeral training at St Brides in West Kilbride in Ayrshire.
The scheme is similar to one adopted by Liverpool Archdiocese in 2012.
The family of the deceased would still be offered a requiem Mass (right) with a priest but a ‘funeral service,’ which could be carried out by a lay person and would not involve the sacrament of Communion, would also be an option.
In a recent parish bulletin, St Bride’s parish priest Fr Joe Boland said: “All over the world, lay men and women have been conducting funerals for years. Obviously they cannot say Mass, but not every funeral involves Mass, and in that case there is nothing a priest can do that a lay person cannot do.
“This will sound strange to many of you, but as the number of parishes covered by one priest grows, it will become more and more necessary,” he went on. “This is not the case here in West Kilbride at the moment, but the current situation will not last forever. There will inevitably be resistance to the idea of lay people exercising this ministry, but that is to be expected. It will work itself out”
Maureen Knight, who is responsible for pastoral care at Liverpool Archdiocese, told the SCO a similar scheme there had been a great success.
“We’ve had 120 people go through the training programme,” she said. ”The negativity around it has been minimal.
“We find that there are people coming to funerals that have very little connection with the church so this is an easier way,” she said. “Rather than the requiem Mass we would want, this is another option.”
She also said the change had helped ‘care of the bereaved become the responsibility of the whole community.’
“The lay funeral minister, they can be with the family beforehand, talk about things they might be afraid to talk to a priest about,” she said. “And they can visit them afterwards, look after them a bit more.”
A 1997 Vatican document on the laity fulfilling priestly duties says ‘the non-ordained faithful may lead the ecclesiastical obsequies provided that there is a true absence of sacred ministers and that they adhere to the prescribed liturgical norms.’
It also states that ‘in the present circumstances of growing de-christianization and of abandonment of religious practice, death and the time of obsequies can be one of the most opportune pastoral moments in which the ordained minister can meet with the non-practising members of the faithful,’ so ‘it is thus desirable that priests and deacons, even at some sacrifice to themselves, should preside personally at funeral rites in accordance with local custom, so as to pray for the dead and be close to their families, thus availing of an opportunity for appropriate evangelization.’
At present there are no plans for similar programmes in the other seven Scottish dioceses Source – Scottish Catholic Observer
Comment:
It’s that “at present” that is the worry. How long before all the usual parish busy-bodies are organising funerals across Scotland? Conducting YOUR funeral? I say “your funeral” because none of them will ever organise mine. Be assured. Over my dead body, as they say, so to speak. You’ll get my drift. Does this resignation to the lack of vocations suggest to you, as it does to me, a total loss of divine and Catholic Faith?
Is the Church finished? Without priests, remember, there IS no Church, so why is the hierarchy concentrating on creating a lay-led Church instead of concentrating on restoring the one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Faith and Liturgy? If they did that, the vocations would come – no doubt about it. So, what’s going on? Who, on this earth, really wants a lay person conducting his/her funeral? 
Comments (68)
What next? Baptism? Marriage? None of these actually require a priest to say Mass. in the meantime it will leave Father free to attend meetings and play golf! After all he is already too busy to take Holy Communion to the sick.
Elizabeth,
That’s exactly what I think. The priests are doing very little, even during Mass. They’re surrounded by lay people fussing around, distracting us all, and now they want us to be buried at a lay-led service. No thanks.
I’m not sure what we can do if we live somewhere that this is going on. If I write in my will that I do not want a lay person leading my funeral, will it make any difference?
Elizabeth and Lily,
That is it – exactly. Just how much more is going to be laid at the feet of the laity? Are they going to have to join the PP on his day off, in the role of Extraordinary Golf Caddy?
Lily, legally, I don’t think you can make such provision in a will. That is not enforceable by law, as far as I know, although you can have it recorded, to make clear your wishes.
Elizabeth – you make a crucially important point about the failure of priests to take Communion to the sick, pleading “too busy”. What the heck are they “too busy” doing, for Pete’s sake.
I just can’t see a problem here . Surely Ed as you say and I endorse no lay person will officiate at my funeral. I don’t care if my Requiem Mass is said at 12am or 4am in the morning. After all I worked shifts nearly all my life so why can I not have a Requiem Mass at anytime of day . As far as my body is concerned that’s the least of my problems am like you all on here wanting my soul layed to rest with a Requiem Mass . After all once I am coffined it’s not as if am going anywhere so in the morning or wherever they can take me to cemetery. Why don’t we canvass for a Priest to say Requiem Masses in shifts and am not trying to be funny here. If the Clergy can all dress up in their finery and go to Rome and talk ( as far as am concerned) a load of rubbish with Jorge about German divorcees sex lives they can surely find time for a Requiem Mass for a faithful servant. And while am about it I have already said that when the time comes I don’t want a eulogy of my life with jokes peppered in between. If I wanted that ad phone up Kevin Bridges and talk about a funeral plan with him .
You have nailed it again Ed – Vocations will return only when the full return to traditional praxis is actualised. Her once again, we see the plans and the pernicious fruits of that Satanic “Liberty, EQUALITY, Fraternity crowd.
Indifference towards the Blessed Sacrament in Novus Ordo Churches, including now, a pope who refuses to genuflect before his Sacred presence, precludes my burial from there.
Living some 30 odd miles from my nearest SSPX Church, the likelihood of having a Traditional Requiem Mass in my diocese is very low, so I’m considering a private burial and having a mass said at the convenience of a priest of the Society.
This lay ministry business positively reeks of masonic influence.
Domine libera nos a malo.
Gerontius,
Well said. And now you know that FOOF will happily drive your hearse to that desired location, that should take a weight off the old shoulders.
Anyway, all kidding aside, I hope and pray that it’s a very long time before we need to be thinking about your funeral.
As for my own – well, as I used to tell young people when they asked me my thoughts on death: not easy, because I just can’t imagine the world without me!
Just as an afterthought I also thought that a Lay Funeral Minister was a Presbyterian. Or am I just being obtuse. I was born a Catholic i will die a Catholic I don’t want any Humanist garbage spouted at my service. —-Surely to God our Church must know that the most important Mass for anyone is their Requiem Mass . I want my soul to be incensed and those words said as”Receive his Soul and Present him to God the most high ” But said with a Priest and by God if I have to drive the hearse myself to whatever Catholic Church al make sure the rest of my family will have a Requiem Mass as well . As long as am alive of course. God Bless all.
FOOF,
I laughed heartily at the idea of you driving your own hearse, before I realised you were talking about the hearses of the rest of your family.
Me? I WILL drive my own hearse to the nearest traditional chapel, rather than have any lay person conducting my funeral.
I’m sure Pope Francis would accuse me of being “rigid” for wanting a Requiem Mass said for the safe passage of my soul when I die…to which I will reply, “Yes, Your Holiness, I prefer to be rigid when I’m quite cold and rigid.”
But all rigid levity aside, this is merely the latest logical progression of the “priesthood of the laity,” promoted, with ambiguous language, in Lumen Gentium. When the Modernists planted their time bombs, most of the rest of the bishops, except for Abp. Lefebvre’s group of 400, were asleep at the wheel. Now the bishops are not only asleep at the wheel, they don’t even realize that the Divine Vehicle they were supposed to be steering has gone off a cliff.
I would, however, welcome one new faculty for the laity: the ability to elect a Pope and a new crop of cardinals and bishops…
RCA Victor,
“But all rigid levity aside…”
Between, FOOF and your good self, it’s a long time since I’ve laughed so much. Who would have thought that death and funerals could provide such hilarity? We must do this more often!
I heartily endorse your closing suggestion. Heartily.
I thought FOOF meant driving his own hearse as well and the picture conjured in my mind was hilarious!
Seriously though, why is the laity funding these losers? Why not let the parish busy bodies busy their bodies over bodily matters and let the priest get on with the bodily job of dealing with bodies – both dead and alive? If you see what I mean?
“Who, on this earth, really wants a lay person conducting his/her funeral?”
NOT ME
Editor
I, too, had a funny thought while reading the introduction to the thread. The words written on Spike Milligan’s headstone came to mind, which read “I told you I was ill”
Not really funny in terms of this very serious conversation, but I just had to share them to show how shallow people have become when it comes to the very grave nature of death and judgment.
I suppose this latest idea is par for the course given that many priests have for years turned the once-solemn Catholic funeral into a fun-for-all, a celebration of the life of the deceased carried out in white vestments (indicating automatic salvation) and including funny stories and favourite pop songs. Indeed, walking through a Catholic cemetary today it is apparent that many have even returned in a way to the old pagan practice of depositing grave goods like teddy bears, windmills, chimes, football shirts, etc. It’s really quite pathetic. The point is that they have lost the solemn Catholic notion of death in the things that matter most for the deceased, which are the last rites of the Church, a true requiem Mass and an exhortation to pray for the holy souls in Purgatory. It’s all so very pagan now so lay-led funerals are to be expected as the next step in the complete desacrilisation of death and burial.
I had an article published in the SCO many years ago entitled “Death is no laughing matter”, pointing out precisely the degradation in the Catholic view of death. I was subsequently slaughtered in the letters page for that article. Sadly, I have no record of the article on my computer now, the result of a crash some years ago that lost me a lot of files, but maybe CT has it somewhere on file. Over to you Editor, the archivist!
First of all, folks, my apologies for forgetting to move the clocks back last week. Now rectified. This post will give the current time in the UK.
Athanasius,
I had a quick look just now for the article you mention but cannot find it. However, I’ll look more carefully tomorrow. Would be good to give it another airing.
I couldn’t help laughing at your ” the very grave nature of death…
I’d no idea when I launched this thread that it was going to be so much fun!
Editor,
I’d no idea when I launched this thread that it was going to be so much fun!
Here’s tae us,
Wha’s like us,
Giy few,
an’ They’re aw DEID!
Gerontius,
Love it!
Athanasius,
I know what you mean – the next-to-last Novus Ordo I attended was a “Rite of Christian Burial” (i.e. the “reformed” Requiem Mass) for my uncle in 2012. The jolly priest came out in his casual minimalist vestments and the first thing he did was to walk up to a picture of my uncle sitting on a table in front of the pews, and say, “Well, what have we here?!” Aside from the insult to Heaven of such deportment, his attempt to appear comforting failed completely and came across as utterly phony.
And the last one was a year later, the same rite for a friend who had introduced me to the TLM in 2002. That one was a bit more solemn, but when the Canon started, I apologized to my friend’s soul and left. I couldn’t take it.
RCA Victor,
I’m just imagining what my own reaction would have been, had my mother’s funeral (our most recent family funeral) been conducted by one of these modernists. I wouldn’t like to pretend that I would have accepted the trivialising of her death or the Church’s rites, with anything approaching good grace. Thank Heavens I didn’t have to worry about that. Having decided on a traditional chapel for her burial, all such thoughts could be dismissed.
RCA Victor
Yes, I have experienced the same superficial buffoonery by priests at funerals. They are so false and yet they think themselves very trendy, caring and ‘with it’. If only they knew what we really think of their irreverent antics. If I am forced to attend a funeral in the Novus Ordo I just kneel down and say a rosary for the deceased while ignoring the side show that is going on around me. Even so, it’s a struggle for me to last the pace. I keep thinking of those words of Our Lord when He drove the money changers from the temple: “My House is a House of prayer and you have turned it into a den of thieves.” The thieves in this case are those who steal divine truth and solemnity away from the faithful by their profane words and actions.
I remember going to a funeral about a decade ago as one of my worst experiences of the whole Novus Ordo travesty.
The priest–I know not why–had formulated his own ritual. Not only, but it was impossible to make out a word the poor man said. Then a daughter of the deceased got up and said that she was there to celebrate her mother’s life, which she promptly did, thus turning a Catholic funeral, with its ethos of commiting a soul to God’s merciful judgement, into a beatification.
What in the name of the wee man is going on in the Church? It is almost as if she had a death wish. But hold on to your hats because, as I say below, the rate of contraction is going to increase apace. News has reached me of the impending demolition of a parish church in Paisley which, or so it seems if the press is to be believed, was communicated to the devastated faithful in a letter. This comes on the heels of the new bishop’s vision for his diocese in the light of the recent synod which, as this Blog reveals, must be a contender for the longest suicide note in history.
Poor Bride of Christ! It is as if Christ were being flogged at the pillar again because of the infidelities of so-called churchmen.
But the last thing we need to worry about is a shortage of priests. The way things are going all we are going to need is a bishop and a couple of permanent deacons. These will be more than enough to serve the needs of what will be left of the faithful.
As the CT Newsletter has made it clear since its inception, we are assisting at a convergence of two phenomena which are each in their own way utterly devastating for the future of Catholicism in Scotland.
First, the pre-Vatican II generations are dying off. (A catholic who was aged twenty in 1970, and who had gone to school before and during the Council, would be aged sixty-six today.) They never received much in the way of formation after their school years, but their home and school formation enabled them to continue in the practice of the faith into adulthood, either through conviction or inertia.
Second, there are the post-Coniliar generations who never received a proper grounding in the faith and the vast majority of which lapse to all intents and purposes while still at school.
Thus the scene is set for what in human terms can only be terminal decline.
What to do? Pray that even at this late hour the Lord may send us an abundance of shepherds after his own heart.
Prognosticum,
i almost missed this – have just read it. This made me smile – a long time since I’ve heard “in the name of the wee man”:
What in the name of the wee man is going on in the Church?
We really are, humanly speaking, in terminal decline, as you say.
However, things are moving very quickly now, with just about every day bringing some new shocker.
Death itself is not accepted as inevitable as today’s news about the court case won by the 14 year old girl
RIPwho wished her body to be frozen (at a cool cost of £37,000) until she can be restored to life, even centuries from now. You truly couldn’t make this stuff up. Click here to read the news report on this case.Athanasius,
LOL! Spike Milligan was very funny. I remember Woody Allen’s funny comment about death when he said “It’s not that I’m afraid of dying, I just don’t want to BE there when it happens! ” LOL!
On a more serious note, I am definitely not in favour of lay people taking funerals. Even though there is no question of these people handling the Blessed Sacrament or anything like that, giving blessings etc. (although this already happens with some of the EMHC) it still isn’t right. I couldn’t stand the thought of any of my family or me having my funeral presided over by a lay person, male or female.
Also, what does it say about the relationship the priest has with the people? What about the well-heeled or the priest’s “friends” within the parish? Will he take their funerals but not the rest of us? It’s a recipe for division and jealousy within parishes. I’m sorry for the people of Galloway having to put up with this. I sincerely hope it never reaches my parish.
Editor,
I suppose the idea of a lay-led funeral gives new dimension to the phrase “When I am laid in earth’!!
RCA Victor,
Your “When I am laid in the earth” made me smile. As did this…
http://www.usurnsonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/funeral-humor-old-people-at-weddings.jpeg
But for passers by, don’t think WE are trivialising death and the Church’s rites. The very idea of a lay person conducting a funeral makes me livid (live-id – get it???)
Seriously, it’s not only ridiculous, the thought of some stranger standing there conducting a funeral in the presence of the family and friends any of whom could, thus, presumably, do the same thing, given the right textbook, but it really does have its funny side. In a kind of humorous sort of way…
Editor,
Did you make that meme yourself? I just made one about Hillary Clinton, I’ll see if I can post it on that thread.
But meanwhile, I suppose I’d better start thinking about my own funeral, as well. One day last week, whilst visiting the cemetery to say my prayers, I noticed a couple of guys following me with shovels…
RCA Victor
In this country you always knew a gardener. They used to follow horses with shovels.
Frankier,
I’m a horse of a different color…
RCA
Would that be a dark horse?
Editor
The truth of the matter is that we Catholics feel the grief of loss just as greatly as anyone else, but at the same time can be light hearted about death in general because we have a supernatural faith that tells us that death is by no means the end for our loved ones. That’s why the Church Traditionally permitted the wake, at which those present to celebrate, even in grief, the fact that a Catholic had died in the state of grace and with the Last Rites of the Church. The poor old pagans have no such comfort, believing death to be the end of existence. What a terrible burden for them to carry for the rest of their lives, and so false a belief.
Now, did you notice that I used the word “shallow” in the same sentence as “grave” in my previous post? The pun was unintentional but I had to laugh when, to borrow your analogy, I later joined the dots and came up with shallow grave. That brought to mind another pun that cemeteries have become so popular that people are dying to take up residence in them.
Seriously, though, this lay-led initiative, whatever the con talk of priests, is just one step closer to outright paganism. Strange that these priests recognise the clerical crisis but deny the cause of it and refuse point blank to return to Tradition. How blind can they be?
Athanasius,
No I didn’t notice “shallow” – but it’s very comical, now that you’ve drawn my attention to it, she said gravely… 😀
I really don’t know why I bother to make jokes… They’re nearly always greeted with a deathly silence…
Since the whole idea of lay-led funerals is nothing but the latest of the endless stream of sick post-Conciliar jokes, I’m glad we’re having fun with it. So…
Q. Do you know why all the people of Glasgow can’t be buried in Cathcart Cemetery?
A. They’re not all dead yet!
(I confess, Ed, I looked up Glasgow cemeteries while I was gathering the latest data on the population of Glasgow…)
RCA Victor,
Great joke – but you might have picked a Catholic cemetery, such as St Peter’s where I plan to be buried (in due course)…
https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/find-a-grave-prod/photos/2011/273/CEM2145874_131751197945.jpg
However, I’m well aware of the old saying “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.” 😀
RCA Victor
Maybe it’s because they are not all Protestants.
I have been trying to imagine quite what a lay led funeral service would consist of. Presumably no blessing of the body/ coffin or incensing of the same? Seems to me they might as well all push off to the local ‘crem’ and have the whole thing done there, since I imagine a lay person cannot bless a grave either. No vestments I presume, unless the lady officiating can come up with a suitably clerical looking outfit perhaps? To match the dangly earring no doubt! I despair…
In one Diocese I lived in, they trained lay people to lead Funerals as long ago as the early 1980’s. However, I think, then, it was primarily the Reception of The Body the evening before, or in a Crematorium when the family did not want Mass.
I am aware of some clergy who do not do Funeral Masses for people who were not practicing Catholics.
In many parts of the world the frequent celebration of Mass, on any day at any time, or any Funeral Masses, would be rare as there are no priests.
Ideally the weekday Mass would become “the Funeral Mass” when one is celebrated, and except in exceptional circumstances no priest should celebrate more than one Mass a day. Therefore, if one priest serves more than one Parish, or the family want a later Mass – because people are travelling – it is not difficult to see why it is difficult to reconcile all the permutations.
It is sheer nonsense, and offensive, to suggest priests are choosing golf rather than fulfilling their sacramental and pastoral role.
Further, the Holy Communion at Home thing is a red herring. Many so called “housebound” people could get to Mass if they were offered a lift. Maybe 30 or more years ago only a few were “elderly” or “housebound” requiring Holy Communion at Home. However today, many people are living longer, and, as is reported today dementia, rather than Heart Disease, is the number one killer.
People need to be realistic in the demands they place on priests. I remember one priest telling me a person said to him: “I called now because I knew you would be in and having lunch”!
Ben,
“… it is not difficult to see why it is difficult to reconcile all the permutations.”
Priests managed to baptise, marry and bury the Faithful as a matter of routine, right up to that Council.
The so called priest shortage is the red herring here. It was created by those with the “end celibacy” agenda and the seminary staff who made promising vocations into worldly men – in just about every sense of the word.
As for the person who called because he/she knew the priest would be in and having lunch – good for him/her. What else would you do if you needed to speak to a priest? The worst of them don’t answer emails or phone messages (I speak from personal experience) and – unfortunately – “the worst” appear to be in the majority these days.
They’ve manufactured a “priest shortage” to allow them to change the nature of the Church, to create a “lay-led” Church – a contradiction in terms. Excuse those of us who refuse to play ball.
Editor,
I used to call the manufactured shortage of priests “Planned Fatherhood.”
RCA Victor,
“Planned Fatherhood” – LOL! That’s brilliant!
Editor
When I was a child most parishes in urban areas had at least two priests, and some more, and they were still creating parishes.
Today some parishes are being closed, and one priest is often serving more than two parishes.
It can hardly be a “red herring” when the facts support the claim. There is a shortage of priests in the developed world based on previous provision. However, when compared to, mostly, developing countries we have too many priests.
I might say some priests, and bishops, and, no doubt, businesses and elected officials, find it best not to reply to some communications as they are often full of “red herrings”, and deliberate mis-characterisations of the real world as lived by the majority of people.
“Dear Father,
I hope you are well. Would it be possible to have twenty minutes of your time, for a short meeting? There is a matter I would like to discuss with you. I will travel to any location that suits you, at a time which suits you. Kind regards…” Signed…
Point out the “red herring(s)”
For the record, I’ve never written to any other person, politician (with the exception of the bad mannered Nicola Sturgeon), royalty, businessman, WITHOUT receiving a courteous reply. Might not be what I wanted to hear, but I’ve never written to any professional person, except clergy/hierarchy, without receiving a reply. That is a fact.
About the “priest shortage” – you appear to be missing the point.
When I grew up, we had THREE priests in the parish, to your two. That was the norm. More than one priest per parish. So what changed? The modernists would have us believe that both human nature changed(priests just HAD to be either promiscuous or free to marry) and that “the world” had suddenly been discovered to be impossible to bring to Christ. We would have to become more worldly, not the other way around. And so it has come to pass…
Please do not fall for the nonsense that the Holy Spirit wanted us to have a lay-led Church all along and it took the enlightened (anything but) Catholic class of the 20/21st century to realise that.
Where the traditional Faith is alive, vocations abound. I attend a traditional chapel and there are no dangly ear-ringed females clattering around the sanctuary “helping” the priest, despite the large number of Communicants approaching the altar rails (to kneel and receive on the tongue). In sharp contrast, I once sat in the congregation of an English church while the laity did everything imaginable the priest (the noted friend of Tony Blair) – having (presumably) confected the Eucharist – was consigned to changing the music tapes in the radio thingumyjig while the lay women distributed Holy Communion.
What about you, Ben… Do you/would you accept Holy Communion from a lay person?
NOTE: I have now traced the reason why your comments did not appear on the blog after your initial “first comment” – that’s because it was NOT your initial first comment. You’ve been on here before, under a different username. Be warned that, having been blacklisted once, you will be blacklisted MUCH more speedily if necessary, should you return to your old trolling tricks. So, please engage in debate, answer questions etc. or be prepared to have your posts disappear into cyberspace.
Slightly later… Yip. I was right. You are a troll. I’ve just consigned your answer to this comment, which identifies you as a troll, to the dustbin. Now, please go away. Anybody who wants to, may bury you. You won’t find any of US complaining!
Editor,
Why do these clowns keep returning to this blog? There are plenty of other blogs, so why do they get fixated on this one? Don’t get me wrong, I know it’s the best, LOL! I just don’t understand why trolls want to pester people who have a completely different view of the Church from them. They are a distraction, so I’m glad you’ve told this one to get lost. I hope he does!
Ben
“ except in exceptional circumstances no priest should celebrate more than one Mass a day.
Who says, and since when?
I don’t know why the Church in Scotland doesn’t just affix a neon sign to each parish church, saying ‘Every man [or should that be person?] for himself.’
The coming years are going to be a time of rapid contraction as we pay the collective price for our infidelity. But what is utterly galling is how Church apparatchiks spin what is by any standard a policy failure of astronomical proportions as the latest post-Conciliar success story.
Truly a case of the blind leading the blind.
Prognosticum,
That’s what always gets me, the way the Church spin doctors always try to make the failures of Vatican II into a success story. It’s just too unbelievable for words. Does anybody actually fall for that?
“a neon sign to each parish church” etc. – LOVE it! LOL!
Folks,
Have read all the latest comments and find nothing with which to disagree – quite the opposite.
And if you hear rumours that I’ve taken to the drink, don’t believe it. I’m LOADED with the cold today and the only thing I’ve not tried is the deadly hot tody, (whisky, water and sugar) – UGH! – and an early night, so I’m heading for the hay in the hope of awaking cured… well… cured of the cold, at least.
I’ll be happy enough though if I’m allowed to return to the land of the living long enough to make sure that no dangly ear-ringed female, as described so aptly by Elizabeth, presides at my funeral.
And I totally agree with Prognosticum’s diagnosis, so to speak (!) of “the blind leading the blind.” With bells on!
http://joshuazampech.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/blind-lead-the-blind.jpg
Editor,
I find that honey instead of sugar, and the addition of the juice of half a lemon, make it more palatable.
Apart from that, I have always thought that tody is one of the nicest ways of taking whisky which, I have to admit, isn’t my favourite tipple.
Thank you Prognosticum. I don’t have any honey or lemons in the house, or even lemonade, so I had to settle for water and sugar. I’m feeling a bit better today but still not 100%. I refuse, however, to take another dose of whisky, no matter WHAT other ingredients are included! I’m not surprised that it’s not your favourite tipple. All that surprises me is that it is ANYBODY’S favourite tipple!
Editor
Well, there’s no accounting for taste! If you need a good night’s sleep and can’t take the lovely whisky (best with green ginger – mm’mm), I can recommend Night Nurse; it really knocks you out and lets you have a good night’s sleep. It’s not so long since you had another bad dose of cold – you taking your vitamin C??
Therese,
I have used Night Nurse in the past but heard mixed reports about using it. Anyway, contrary to what you say, I tend to have lengthy gaps in between colds and flu (thank Heavens) so don’t tend to keep medicines in the house.
I wonder why you think I had a cold “not so long since”? I don’t remember that, which is not saying much. I can’t remember when I last put the clock back… 😀
Editor,
I think this thread is turning into “Lay-Led Prescriptions,” so here’s mine: squeeze half a lime into about 2 fingers of good water (i.e. spring water, not fluoridated or chlorinated), drink with a flourish, 2-3 times/day.
(Be sure you don’t drink your 2 fingers…)
RCA Victor,
I can do the “drink with a flourish” but only with a glass of water – the rest was not on my last shopping list. Only, I hope it WASN’T my last shopping list, given the topic of this thread…
So much for having a restful day – I bet Donald Trump is having an easier time!
Editor
Best cure for the cold? Turn on the heating!
I agree with Therese, by the way. I seem to recall you having a bad cold not so long ago, with a nasty chesty cough. I blame the young niece and nephews myself. Kids are always picking up colds and spreading them, it’s their way of saying thank you!
I told you before, get some Beechams powders. Just as horrible as whiskey to take but very effective.
Athanasius,
I do remember that – about the Beechams. WOW. Sorry, Therese. This time, though, I have a sore throat. Diversity is now my “thing”!
Nurse Elizabeth agrees with the Beecham advice. Not too bad as a lemon drink, much more effective than Lemsip too. Just recovering from the lurgy myself, thanks to my little grandsons!
Thank you Nurse Elizabeth!
I’m happy to say that the culprit(s) are NOT my nephews/nieces, but another, adult, relative who called into see me on Saturday, having had the cold herself all week. She sounded terrible, but assured me that she was now suffering the end of it. I have texted her to say “thanks” for passing it on, free of charge… 😀
Editor, an elderly gentleman of my acquaintance says that the best cure for a cold is to to take a tablespoon of vinegar followed by a cup of tea before going to bed. He says that in the morning the cold has gone. He swears by it ………… or is that after he’s taken the tablespoon of vinegar? whatever, anythings worth a try.
Vianney,
Thank you for that “cure” – I’ll remember it for next time.
However, if there IS a next time, I won’t be announcing it on this blog, as I seem to unwittingly have taken everyone off topic. My apologies. I thought I ought to explain my absence from the blog for an extended period but I’ve now remembered that I don’t get paid, even for overtime 😀 So, in future, I’ll keep my sicknesses, illnesses, colds and flu strictly to myself (unlike the visitor who passed on her cold to moi!)
In summary – thank you all for your suggested remedies. You should get together and write a book!
Now, back to the topic…. which is, essentially, what happens when all the remedies in the world don’t work 😀
If someone who is the head of an organisation is not doing his job he is usually sacked. that should be true in the Catholic Church. In most parts of England we are increasing the numbers of priests but in Scotland things are getting worse so why should the bishops not resign. Instead of grovelling before them Scottish Catholics should stand up and shout “You are ……useless.
John,
You make a fair point – but only to a certain extent, when action is necessary Our Lord doesn’t waste time. Recall if you will, Roddy Wright and a certain Keith O’Brien.
” Instead of grovelling before them Scottish Catholics should stand up and shout….”
What makes you think we don’t? Remember the ways to be an accessory to another’s sin include silence and consent and most of the Scots who blog here are most certainly loud and clear when required.
“In most parts of England we are increasing the numbers of priests but in Scotland things are getting worse”
Your ‘avin a larf mate! You left out the Novus Ordo part didn’t ye, ye little rascal – arf, arf, arf.
By-the-way, who’s in charge of the Church down there? Hmmm… collegiality an’ all that ecumenical guff must be bearing the appropriate fruit.
Meantime, our ever increasing congregation patiently waits for more SSPX FORMED priests being ordained. Methinks a quick perusal of Praestantia Scripturae would be a good memory refresher.
Perhaps shorter masses would be suited to overworked clergy? How about doing away with obituaries during the mass from usually a number of friends/family? Leave it for the wake? Also chop off the bidding prayers. I’m sure the faithful pray for the soul of the deceased and the bereaved during the prayer of the mass. What are peoples views on permanent deacons “presiding” at funerals?
PortsmouthMissionBlog,
There shouldn’t be obituaries or eulogies during a funeral Mass – that is strictly forbidden!
About permanent deacons – personally, I want a priest and nobody else to conduct my funeral. End of.
Ben
A couple of days ago you stated that unless under exceptional circumstances no priest should say more than one Mass a day.
I remember as an altar boy serving three continuous Masses, starting at 8.00am, on one day every year. The priest went straight back to the foot of the altar after the first two of the Masses and started right away on the third.
If I remember correctly it was on All Souls Day.
The altar boys didn`t even get a penny overtime. It was zero contract and no wage long before it came into fashion.
Frankier,
Ben won’t be responding. He’s been despatched. Don’t ask.
Editor
I hope he’s not lying bound and gagged in your septic tank.
Frankier,
I believe Editor has a new policy – it’s called “Blogxit.”
RCA Victor,
In the absence of a septic tank, you got it in one!
What are “obituaries” during a funeral?
Crofterlady,
I think PortsmouthMissionBlog means “eulogies” – where family/friends speak about the deceased, usually praising them to the skies, telling stories about them etc.
Eulogies are strictly forbidden at Catholic funerals, but have slipped in, as part of our ongoing “Americanisation”. Thankfully, I have never witnessed this particular abuse at a funeral but it’s many years now since I attended a novus ordo funeral. In fact, I believe the last NO funeral I attended was in 2003.
I remember the Irish Bishops issued a statement of sorts, trying to end this abuse and other such nonsense (secular music etc) at funerals. Without much success. One priest told me that the people go crazy if they don’t get their way and most clergy just give in to the bullies.
Just one more example of the way the ordained fear human wrath more than they love God’s law.
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