The Narthex
Behavior at Funerals
At Jimmy Carter's state funeral, much attention was focused on the living presidents
By John M. Grondelski | January 15th 2025 12:00 PMWatching the Carter state funeral at National Cathedral, I couldn’t help but notice how much attention was focused on the five Presidents. One of the few times Americans see all their living former, current, and -- at Carter’s funeral -- future presidents in one place is when one of them…
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Charity demands we move the focus of funerals from self-celebration to humble petition
By John M. Grondelski | January 9th 2025 8:09 PMFor many reasons I am grateful God gave me the grace of being Catholic. One reason is the Catholic funeral liturgy. Watching the funeral of Jimmy Carter, I realized the profound difference between the Catholic understanding of what we do at a funeral and Protestant/civil religion/secular funerals. I don’t want…
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