1. ‘Unya, Nay, tua na si Cardinal sa langit?’ And why Vidal asked journalists to pray for him.
News sources and media
Chapel at Archbishop’s Residence, where Cardinal Vidal would hold mass every New Year’s eve, after which he’d chat at a “merienda cena” with a small group of journalists, his staff and friends.
1. ‘Unya, Nay, tua na si Cardinal sa langit?’ And why Vidal asked journalists to pray for him.
PACHICO A. SEARES
First published in SunStar Oct. 25, 2017.
Adapted in CJJ Oct. 29, 2024
Overheard from a child, 4, to her mother: “Unya nay, tua na si cardinal sa langit?”
Both the Order of Christian Funerals (OCF) and the General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM) expressly ban eulogies in a Catholic Church funeral. A brief homily is allowed “but never any kind of eulogy.” A friend who is a priest confirmed that.
Why the prohibition, I asked him. If it is banned, why is it that in some funerals speaker after speaker praises the deceased person?
The church has this reason: The funeral is not to celebrate the life of the one who died but to worship God “for Christ’s victory over death.” It is to comfort with prayers those who mourn the passing away of a person dear to them and, what most of us hear, to pray for his soul.
(Cardinal Vidal used to ask his friends in media to pray for him, His worry: “what if you’d be in heaven and I wouldn’t be there?” Ha ha.)
Not a canonization
The funeral is not, the priest-friend says: a commemoration of the deceased, much less his canonization. Even if the one who died was a good cardinal priest such as Cardinal Ricardo Vidal?
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, at the moment of one’s death, the soul of the dead has three destinations: (1) immediate life in heaven, (2) immediate life in “eternal damnation” (hell) or (3) life in heaven after a period of purification (purgatory).
The parishioners who have known and loved Cardinal Vidal are pretty confident he’ll go to heaven. Still, the homily at his funeral may not say that he will. That would be canonizing him, we are told.
Eulogy, homily
What’s the difference between a eulogy and a homily? The praise in the homily is toned down, limited to his accomplishments, in broad strokes, not in glowing detail. From a Catholic writer’s comparison, eulogy is something like gosh-what-an-awesome-and-terrific-human-being the-person-in-the-coffin was.
To politicians and other public officials who want the praise session for their funeral, there are ways. A separate necrological service may be held before the funeral mass: at his home, workplace, or at graveside, after the rite of commitment. Or in the mass homily, by the priest or by a relative or friend of the deceased.
Prayers
Instead of plaudits or flowers, the deceased might prefer prayers for his soul. But it’s no longer his choice. The dead cannot command or wish how respects are given, quietly in prayer or mass or in trumpeted adulation in obituaries and flower wreaths.
And about that child who asked her mother if Cardinal Vidal was already in heaven. The mom told her, and my source swears this is true: “Wa pa ‘day, Huwebes pa man ang lubong.” 