Would it be a violation of Catholic teaching and/or canon law for a nationally famous homosexual astrologer who attempted marriage to another man to receive a funeral Mass in a Catholic church? It would certainly be a scandal.
Darrell Martinie ended each of his Boston radio broadcasts with the same message:“It is a wise person who rules the stars, a fool who is ruled by them. Over and out.” The beloved astrologer, known to listeners as the “Cosmic Muffin” who spiced the airwaves with his predictions for more than 30 years and served as the Bay State’s official astrologer, died Wednesday after a three-year battle with cancer.
... On May 17, 2004, Mr. Martinie and his life partner of 33 years, Edward Boesel, were the first same sex couple to obtain a marriage license in their town of Saugus. Their marriage was officiated by longtime WBCN program director Oedipus (aka Edward Hyson) on May 28 at the World Trade Center in Boston.
... A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Blessed Sacrament Church, Saugus.
This was last week incidentally. I don’t mean to pile on the grief or suffering of Martinie’s family and friends. However, it seems apparent from the way he lived his life that Martinie had little to no regard for the Church’s teachings, including those having to do with sexual morality and the occult. So why did his family choose a funeral Mass? And why did the pastor go along with this? Rhetorical questions all.
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A Catholic astrologer? Isn’t that an oxymoron?
Yes, I listened to the Cosmic Muffin too in the 70’s while I was at Emmanuel College (where I misplaced my faith).
Notorious sinners are not supposed to receive public funeral Masses, or so I was taught. This man was a notorious public sinner. If he repented at the last, that should have been publicized before his death and before any public ceremony provided by the Church. It’s one thing to be a garden variety sinner like we all are, but quite another thing to flaunt your deviancy before the whole city.
If there are no consequences to serious sin, why are we even bothering with church?
Eulogies by children extolling their parents, who most of us attending know were outstanding Catholics, are not offensive and are an encouragement to excellence. It’s the closest thing to public acclamation for a saintly life that ordinary good people receive from the Church.
I do agree, Deacon, that we seem to have forgotten that most of us may have some time to spend in Purgatory before we are welcomed to God’s presence. The importance of a funeral Mass in the remission of punishment for our sins is almost never mentioned now.