Priest brands Shane MacGowan's funeral 'completely inappropriate and a scandal'

14 December 2023 , 13:22

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Priest brands Shane MacGowan's funeral 'completely inappropriate and a scandal'

Shane MacGowan's funeral was attended by star-studded guests including Johnny Depp, Bob Geldof and Irish president Michael D Higgins.

But now an Irish priest has taken aim at the ceremony, saying it was a "scandal". The three-hour service featured performances and was not only open to the public, but was live-streamed online, celebrating The Pogues frontman's life and glistening career.

The Pogues' 1998 festive tune Fairytale of New York was performed and Australian singer Nick Cave gave an emotional rendition of A Rainy Night In Soho. The star's funeral took place last Friday in Co Tipperary after Shane's passing on November 30.

Shane tragically passed away on November 30 (Twitter/@Victoriamary)

Parish priest of the Corpus Christi parish in West Belfast Fr Paddy McCafferty has since slammed the ceremony. "It was an abuse of what mass is and what the Catholic funeral liturgy is all about," the clergyman explained. "The introduction of all these elements into that funeral mass frankly was a scandal and it shouldn't have happened."

"If they wanted to have that sort of event they could have hired a hall somewhere and did all that," he told Belfast Live. "He was a good man in his own way and he was entitled to a funeral mass as every baptised Catholic is."

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"But all of that stuff should have been kept out of the mass, there is no place for that in the mass at all. It was an abuse of the liturgy and it showed a completely askew understanding of what we actually are doing when we celebrate a funeral mass."

Fr McCafferty reserved particular ire for the playing of The Pogues' Christmas classic Fairytale of New York at the funeral mass. "The singing of that Fairytale of New York after Holy Communion, totally out of place," the priest said.

Johnny Depp was amongst guests at Shane's funeral (STR/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

"The words that are used in that song and in the church showed no understanding of the sacredness of what the place is and the holiness of the mass. It was completely inappropriate to say the least, to the point of scandal and something needs to be done about these so-called celebrity funerals in a Catholic church.

"If people don't want that then go somewhere else. I watched maybe a couple of minutes and thought my goodness, I couldn't watch any more of that. We're not there to entertain, we're there to celebrate the worship of God and lead people in the worship of God. I wouldn't allow that in my church."

Harry Rutter