Is it true that a Catholic church will not perform a funeral service if a person has committed suicide?

Question

Is it true that a Catholic church will not perform a funeral service if a person has committed suicide?

Answer 1

No, not anymore, but they used to.

Answer 2

I have heard that is true.





Depression is a very real physiological condition and suicide is not a reflection on the soul.

Answer 3

No. I've been to 2 catholic funerals that were because of a suicide.

Answer 4

Well that was in the "olden" days. Today we know understand that people who commit suicide are often mentally unstable ect and so its not really their fault. The church's view is still that suicide is a sin but they now believe only God can judge whether this person was indeed in their right mind or not. So they will perform a funeral service like any other person.

Answer 5

No, we had a funeral service in my Church for a young person who committed suicide

Answer 6

This was true a hundred years ago.



The Catholic Church has mellowed on this subject over the centuries as knowledge of mental illness and depression has increased.



Catholics believe suicide when committed in full knowledge and deliberate consent is a complete turning away from God (a mortal sin) and will send a person to hell.



There are 3 conditions of a mortal sin: grave matter, full knowledge, and deliberate consent.



While suicide (or any kind of murder) is always a grave matter, people who commit suicide may not always have full knowledge of what they're doing. Drugs can definitely impair one's thinking, as can other things, such as diseases, intense pain, or anguish.



Therefore, suicide is not automatically treated as a mortal sin.



We are commanded by Christ not to judge others so we leave final judgment to God who alone knows each person's heart.



The Code of Canon Law does not list suicide as a reason to deny a person a Catholic funeral or burial in a Catholic cemetery. http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P4C.HTM

http://www.holycrosscemeteries.com/faq/#Section_17

http://home.att.net/~faithleap/suicide.htm



For more information, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

On mortal sin, paragraphs 1857-1859: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt3sect1chpt1art8.htm#1857

On suicide, paragraphs 2282-2283: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt3sect2chpt2art5.htm#2282



With love and prayers in Christ.

Answer 7

I have heard that they will NOT PERFORM A FUNERAL SERVICE FOR SOMEONE THAT HAS COMMITTED SUICIDE. I heard this recently too.



http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14326b.htm

http://www.rpinet.com/ml/2503bi1.html



The article above states that the Catholic Church no longer denies a Catholic funeral to those that have committed suicide.

Answer 8

A young member of our parish committed suicide last spring. His funeral was in our church (Catholic) and our Pastor did a Homily on the event of his suicide (with the deceased's parents permission).



The Homily was based on supporting and knowing one another, not on the sin of suicide.

Answer 9

It used to be believed that if you did not pray before you died, you were going to hell. The church used to also believe that using a fork was a sin. When a certain princess, who enjoyed using a fork, died of the plague, the Pope was like, "That's what that little sinner gets for eating with a fork!" So it doesn't surprise me that "My Religion is Bigger than Yours" would lack any compassion toward a suicide victim.

Answer 10

no cause my freinds uncle comited sucide and they had the furnal at the church and i was there!

Answer 11

The Catholic Church can refuse funerals of those who commit suicide. However the Church will review the circumstance surrounding the person's death. Most of the time people who commit suicide suffer from some sort of mental illness. So it is not curtain if the suicide is because the individual give up on life (which is a grave sin), or if their is an illness which was the cause of the death.



Assisted suicides, for example are grave sins, and the Church could refuse a funeral and refuse to allow the person to be buried in a Catholic cemetery. whereas someone who is bipolar that forgot to take their meds that falls into a deep depression who jumps off a bridge, can still have a Catholic burial.



While on the subject, just to note. People who are excommunicated can not have a Catholic burial. Also someone who lives contrary to the faith publicly can be refused to have a Catholic burial. The mafia boss John Gotti who died a few years ago is an example of that. The Church refused giving him a Catholic funeral because they said it would be scandalous to allow someone who openly lived contrary to the Gospel and not repent to have a Catholic funeral. However, the Church did allow the family to bury him in a Catholic cemetery.

Answer 12

Whatever you do - stop getting your theology from Hollywood. There was a time when Hollywood was actually respectful to religion, not anymore.



"The Passion of the Christ" and "The Nativity Story" being two recent exceptions.



The Church teaches that suicide constitutes go-to-hell material. However, there is always the possibility that the person committing suicide changed his/her mind (repenting of said sin) sometime between the "point of no return".



For example. . .without being too goolish, let's picture a person about to commit suicide by jumping off a high bridge over a body of water. Thje actual jump is the point of no return because, once the jump is made, nothing can stop the event that has been put into motion.



Now, let's pretend we can read the victim's heart. This person changes his mind about committing suicide at some instant between the moment he jumped and the moment he hits the water below.



Given everything we know about God's Mercy, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that God has forgiven the victim for his sin, and has avoided hell.



Because of this possibility, the Church will bestow a Catholic funeral upon the deceased. There are probably times when the Church would rather not do so, but has the funeral anyway, for the sake of the family of the deceased. That's fine too, nothing wrong with that.

Answer 13

You need to stop getting your information from the 1930s. A good friend of mine who is a monsignor (a priest who has received commendation from the Pope) presided at his brother's Catholic funeral Mass, and his brother had committed suicide. The brother's body was also buried in a Catholic cemetery. Since psychiatric medicine has determined that most people who commit suicide are mentally ill, the Catholic Church has been providing funeral Masses and Catholic burials to those Catholics who suffer such mental illness. The issue might be dicey for somebody who kills him/herself without being mentally ill, but who would do that? Regarding the sexual abuse scandal -- this never should have happened, but there were criminals who infiltrated the Catholic priesthood to get easy access to victims. Early on, secular psychiatrists advised bishops to move priests out of temptation, so they moved them around. They kept quiet about the crimes because of the embarrassment -- not only to the church, but to the victims. Perhaps you didn't realize this, but victims names could be published by the media. Anyway, this was very bad advice, and the whole thing is a complete travesty. But since 2002, when the scandals were revealed, the Catholic bishops of the United States have had very strict rules about sexual abuse of minors. You can go to their website and read the rules yourself. If you're actually interested in facts. As for your accusation that the Catholic Church fails "to realise that Jesus was there for sinners as well as saints" -- that's completely unfounded and shows your ignorance about Catholicism. Catholicism is all about being a sinner and being able to reach out to Christ anyway. We have an entire sacrament set up for dealing with sin. So are you serious and want serious answers or just ranting?

Answer 14

I know of someone who had this happen. I don't know when it happened, but the Catholic church he grew up in refused to perform a funeral service for him when he committed suicide. I don't know as it happens much anymore, but it certainly HAS happened.

Answer 15

No, I have been to many Catholic funerals of suicide

James Carroll is not well known for accurate portrayals of catholic teaching

Answer 16

It depends on many things.

Usually there's a way out, and it's "temporary insanity". Of course having been young, popular, from a rich family etc. helps. See Edoardo Agnelli and Raoul Gardini among others.

But I've been to a funeral of a schoolmate's mother, who was clinically depressed, in & out of hospitals etc., and had eventually jumped. No mass and no priest.

Answer 17

If you believe in the words of Jesus you would hold no funeral services, for Jesus said.



31 But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying,



32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Matt 22:31-32 (KJV)

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THE BODY DIES, BUT THE SPIRIT LIVES ON TO BE "BORN AGAIN"



24 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out.

25 And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished.

26 Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.

Luke 11:23-26 (KJV)

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LET THE DEAD BURY THE DEAD.

IS TO SAY LET THE UNBELIEVERS BURY THE UNBELIEVERS

Answer 18

I think our RC Church (which is conservative) have a few "Masses" for a few ppl who committed suicide ... the Priest at the parish is the one who will make the final decision ... of course there is always the posibility of getting the Arch-Dioses in for another opinion, if you think the Priest is unfair.



Catichism:

2283 We should not despair of the eternal salvation of persons who have taken their own lives. By ways known to him alone, God can provide the opportunity for salutary repentance. The Church prays for persons who have taken their own lives.



2280 Everyone is responsible for his life before God who has given it to him. It is God who remains the sovereign Master of life. We are obliged to accept life gratefully and preserve it for his honor and the salvation of our souls. We are stewards, not owners, of the life God has entrusted to us. It is not ours to dispose of.



2281 Suicide contradicts the natural inclination of the human being to preserve and perpetuate his life. It is gravely contrary to the just love of self. It likewise offends love of neighbor because it unjustly breaks the ties of solidarity with family, nation, and other human societies to which we continue to have obligations. Suicide is contrary to love for the living God.



2282 If suicide is committed with the intention of setting an example, especially to the young, it also takes on the gravity of scandal. Voluntary co-operation in suicide is contrary to the moral law.



Grave psychological disturbances, anguish, or grave fear of hardship, suffering, or torture can diminish the responsibility of the one committing suicide.

Answer 19

It used to be true. That changed in 1964.

Answer 20

I have no idea but i sure they don't do that because they believe that if the died on purpose or anything, they are completely at God's mercy.

Answer 21

Never saw the movie.

Answer 22

Well, suicide victims are the abomination upon God so they don't deserve a proper funeral. Their bodies originally were thrown on the street to be devoured by dogs.

Answer 23

IT VARIES TO THE JUDGMENT OF THE CHURCH.



GOD BLESS!