AmericanPapist Comments
Odd story. Much as BF was odd. For a fine essay on this, bopp on over to Carl Olson at http://insightscoop.typepad.com/...hing-for-
b.html
Reuters said:
"attended by a few friends and his companion, Japanese chess player Miyoko Watai.
The Catholic burial was held ... "
What's wrong with this picture?
It's hard to be a notorious public sinner when you're nuts, Aelric. I mean, everything I've read about the man makes it sound pretty doubtful that he could have contracted a valid marriage, or gone through RCIA. He may or may not have requested baptism or last rites from a priest at the end.
So it comes down to pastoral decision. If requested, a priest can give a non-Catholic a Catholic burial. Obviously, the local priest decided this was okay. I'm not going to second-guess him.
And yes, it would be hugely tacky to tell someone's girlfriend not to show up for his funeral, especially when the deceased had so few people who could put up with him. Her presence was certainly not going to give scandal to anybody at this late date.
(Btw, they apparently tried to get married in Japan, but were prevented by Fischer not having the right American documents. Presumably this would hold true in Iceland also, as Fischer was in very murky American legal waters. Though honestly, I would have given him papers just to keep him out of our government's face.)
Maureen,
If by "pastoral decision" you mean just because the pastor feels it "a nice gesture" then I believe you are mistaken. Canon 1184 1/3 states that the following MUST be deprived of an ecclesiastical funeral: "other manifest sinners who cannot be granted ecclesiastical funerals without public scandal of the faithful."
The fact that the canon mentions public scandal suggests (though I would welcome a professional opinion) that private arrangements are not sufficient (and Mr. Fisher was most certainly not an obscure private individual). My only point was that Mr. Fisher's request for a Catholic funeral was sufficiently startling (and a priest was quoted as saying “I don’t know if he converted to the Catholic faith, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t,” said Father Rolland), as to raise the concern of scandal (of course, we all know that most catholics nowadays have moved beyond scandal and sin). It is also admittedly unclear what Reuters may have meant by "partner" as compared to your euphemistic term 'girlfriend.' Usually that former term tends to denote a domestic co-habitating sexual relationship without benefit of marriage, but I admittedly do not know the facts here. (and I would add that just because the threshold of scandal and sin has been drastically lowered amongst some catholics, does not mean it was objectively missing here).
My original message was intended simply to prompt discussion given what seemed to me to be little real concern expressed (in the blog world) over granting a Catholic funeral to BF. If Mr. Fisher indeed reconciled with Holy Church prior to his death then Deo gratias . By asking "what's wrong with this picture," I was soliciting more information/discussion beyond the bare coverage in the media to what appeared to be a facile granting of a Catholic funeral.
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