Catholic Traditio John O Brien's Funeral Tradition

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Recommended: The role of religion in society today

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A funeral is a service that is a way to acknowledge, celebrate and honour the life of a loved one who has passed away. This memorial service brings comfort to the people who mourn for the loss of a loved one and allow people to say goodbye, provide a support system for the friends and family and memorialise the deceased person. Within each religion there are a variety of funerary customs including many prayers, symbols and the destruction or preservation of the body. The customs involved in funerals comprise of the complexity of the beliefs and practices used by the religion or culture to respect and remember the dead. Within the Catholic Church, moderate divergence is observed between how the ritual is described and how it is practised, as seen in an interview conducted with an adherent of the Catholic Church. Although John O’Brien follows a reformed position on the continuum, he diverges moderately to the Catholic Church on the criteria: meaning of the funeral, the beliefs of the afterlife in the new world, understood by Victor Turners model, and the symbols used through out a funeral ceremony. Therefore, divergence between how rituals are described and how rituals are practised exists within the Catholic …show more content…

The O’Brien family having a strong Irish heritage, and John being the 4th generation in Australia. During his early years, John attended church every Sunday and regularly participated in Sunday School. He always attended state schools and missed out on the religious education that catholic education systems provided. John now attends church twice a year. Not as often as he would like to but with a hectic life and constantly not having enough time makes it hard to get there. Juggling the needs of 4 children and running a successful business, with keeping up a level of fitness and making time for other priorities makes it difficult to get there on a regular

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