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We are hugely indebted to the Torch of the Faith team – also based in the Archdiocese of Liverpool – for flagging-up the biggest of the scandals, among many, perpetrated at last Thursday's bewildering and depressing funeral "Mass" for Cilla Black. See our first post on the subject.
It had been anticipated – and strongly suspected in the aftermath – that such a conspicuously heterodox, worldly and irreverent event would inevitably provide the wicked (yes) platform for open public scandal and sacrilege to especially occur during the distribution of Holy Communion.
And so it was.
This is not using the benefit of hindsight, as we'll go on to prove.
At the time of our first post, despite suspicions, we just didn't have enough provable evidence to assert that Local, Real and Eucharistic Sacrilege had indeed occurred. Now, though, we have such verification. We'd been alerted to two specific occasions attested to by the fearless Torch of the Faith team, who were the first to report that unambiguous and, in their words, "grave public scandal" concerning the wrongful reception and administering of Holy Communion had definitely occurred. We therefore followed their lead in order to seek to corroborate those assertions.
Having since discovered an extant broadcast of the entire funeral on the Sky News-YouTube channel, as embedded below, the evidence is incontrovertible (n.b. although the feed runs to 2hrs and 37 minutes, there is nothing of note prior to 46 minutes; that is, apart from a church full of people standing around chatting irreverently, passing here and there, as though it was a village pub, without a single realisation that they were in the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament in the Tabernacle). At the time of writing, the footage has been seen by over 91,000 people and rising, a number which can be added to the millions who saw live TV footage and heard extensive radio broadcasts, not to mention the considerable national and local newspaper coverage. The damage that was done to the (very) public perception of our Faith last week should not be underestimated. It was hardly surprising, though. For such are the very low expectations here at Liverpolitanus, as we made clear with our very first post.
The video evidence not only corroborates what the Torch of the Faith site first asserted – concerning two clearly distinguishable public scandals – but also, on careful study, reveals a potentially far worse one.
We are not canonists. That said, we have reached our conclusions after careful and reasonable lay-consideration of Canons 915-916 and also in the light of the following article "Fencing the Altar" (October, 2012) penned by the renowned Canon Lawyer, Dr Edward Peters JD, JCD, Ref. Sig. Ap..
On those bases, we would assert that, given the video evidence and the widely-known local and national knowledge attendant to the matter(s) in question, that an entirely preventable, knowable and easily anticipated public scandal occurred at Cilla Black's funeral on at least two occasions. Further, that the preventable aspect of both instances applied in the macro circumstances (there were at least 11 and possibly as many as 19 days to prepare for this funeral and all of its predictable, potential developments) and also in the micro circumstance of at least one of the cases (for evidence strongly suggests that a discussion took place, right at the very final moments prior to intended communication, between the eventual recipient of Communion and the administering priest – an Auxiliary Bishop, no less – as to the prudent and appropriate action to take).
We would also assert that a far worse, though unknowable, sacrilege may very possibly have also occurred (there are strong grounds for believing this to be the case - more later). Though this last incident could not have been specifically anticipated, it is suggested that the lack of prudence on display throughout the entire funeral blurred the lines of reverence to such an extent that enough liturgical discord had been fomented in order for such an outrage to occur; n.b. that an evil act did indeed start to take place cannot be denied – however whether or not it was fulfilled to the point of sacrilege may never be known; if it was the case that the instance in question did indeed proceed to the point of sacrilege, then it would have been by some distance the worst of the public scandals to occur.
We can obviously only concentrate on the public scandals (which is the very point of the specific law in question). Though private sacrilege may indeed have occurred many times during the distribution of Holy Communion and the (as is now standard practice) Precious Blood at last week's very public funeral – as is always the risk at such occasions and such is the perceived complacency-mixed-with-confusion at many Novus Ordo Masses celebrated in the Archdiocese of Liverpool, especially ones that feature pop songs, pagan poems, general ad-libbing and an all round air of entertainment – the administering clergy (and, of course, the now essential addition of Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion at every single Mass) cannot know the state of the soul of all who present themselves to receive the – very Real and very Present – Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of the Lord Jesus in the Most Holy Eucharist.
However, such private concealment of sin was most certainly not the case concerning everyone who presented themselves to receive Holy Communion at Cilla Black's funeral. For this was the funeral of an international show-buisness celebrity. It was therefore hardly surprising that it attracted a slew of famous faces and there were among them several whose private lives have been made public through their own doing and deliberate design.
Therein is the difference.
The very public sin in question – i.e. the overt same sex relationships and living arrangements that certain members of the congregation regularly broadcast, through the mainstream media, that they are engaged in – was easily knowable and (although to a lesser degree) actually in evidence about some of those who presented themselves for Holy Communion at Cilla Black's funeral last week.
For it to be have been the case that not even one of the parties (circa 15, possibly 20 people in toto) involved in the preparation of last week's funeral (from the Archbishop down to the lay team who were publicly congratulated for leading the arrangements - indeed!) had knowledge of the potential scandals that lay in wait is simply untenable (although this has not been claimed). To use the famous Rumsfeld quote, there were "known knowns" aplenty. No, let us make one thing quite clear for any overseas readers: that there was a major risk of scandal due to the publicly and proudly proclaimed issue of same sex relationships which are the ongoing lifestyle choice of some of the guests at last week's funeral was eminently knowable to anyone with an ounce of British cultural (we use the word loosely) awareness over a period covering at least the last 15 years if not much longer. The only aspect that could not have been known for certain is whether those individuals would present themselves for Holy Communion. Very true. It would seem clear, though, that nowhere near the appropriate measures of preventable action were employed in order to preempt or eliminate the risk entirely. Further, it would seem undeniable that the course of action that was approved of (i.e. the celebration of a Mass, however appallingly modified – by a bishop, no less – rather than the mere provision of a simple funeral service) seems a direct contradiction of what has become almost default archdiocesan policy for many cases over the last decade.
Our next post, therefore, will consider in detail:
• Two clear occasions of sacrilege and public scandal;
• A third possible – and much worse if it was fulfilled – scandal;
• What could and should have been known in advance; what could have been done in advance to protect the Blessed Sacrament as much as possible; and what wasn't done;
and
• What the archdiocesan policy would seem to be for an overwhelming majority of "funeral occasions" (which has both benefits and drawbacks) and why this wasn't applied to the occasion of Cilla Black's funeral.
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We finish this post as we did the first with a prayer for the deceased:
Eternal Rest, grant unto her O Lord,
And let perpetual light shine upon her
May she rest in peace
Amen
Priscilla Maria Veronica Willis - Requiescat in pace
