This third post on the subject follows our previous two here (1) and here (2). The posts should be considered as a set.
The "Order of Service" produced for Cilla Black's funeral (a BBC link to the document is here) is all that's needed to prove that a potential public scandal and Eucharistic sacrilege lay in wait. Many alert Catholics saw it coming a mile off. We did. The team at Torch of the Faith can even provide documentary evidence (provably published just two hours prior to the funeral) that they did.
If lay people were switched-on enough to the dangers, you'd expect that a permanent deacon, two priests and an auxiliary bishop – i.e. the four-hand clerical team that celebrated the funeral – were equally so. Either that quartet knew the clear risks, or they didn't. Simple as that. If they didn't, then serious questions should be asked about the extent of their prudent involvement in the preparation of a very public funeral broadcast live in the UK on TV, radio and the Internet – the latter also having a global reach; nothing, absolutely nothing, should have been left to chance, misinterpretation, or ambiguity. If, however, they did know of the possible perils (far more likely), then more serious questions must be asked about why they didn't take firm, preventative action.
