The small chapel at Warriston crematorium in Edinburgh is furnished neutrally with rows of conference-style seats, large amounts of pale polished wood, an electric organ in the corner at the back and a plain wooden cross that hangs from a hook on the wall, presumably so that it can be taken down if necessary. The coffin sits at the front on a catafalque.
One day last month it was my mother’s bamboo coffin at the front. She had had dementia for several years, and then she suddenly fell ill with something else and died. There is a lot to say, but it’s the “DIY” nature of her funeral I want to focus on, because it occurred to me that it reflects how life is today for many Catholics. We do not invariably live in a monolithic religious culture where everyone’s attitudes are pretty much the same – and that is more of a challenge, but it can also be a good thing because it forces us to think about what we really believe.
