by Fred Moleck
Up, Up, and Away
Several days ago I posted this question on a liturgy computer bulletin board hoping someone else might have had some experience with the problem. What I listed was a request for some information about the releasing of pigeons at a Roman Catholic funeral liturgy.
Certainly, something as bizarre as a launching of pigeons as part of a departure liturgy would have grabbed someone's attention in the bulletin board's membership. Little did I know that a pigeon/dove launch is a well-established practice in hundreds of cities, towns, villages, and communes. . . .
And all this time I thought I had seen it all and done it all by just going around the block a few times.
Six people responded. I was expecting no one.
One of the most competent and articulate members of this group was good enough to share a link with me which lists forty-seven Web sites of agencies or companies that are more than happy to fill the request of birds with flapping wings moving heavenward. They are called bird-handlers.
Their geographic origins include one from Canada, New York, and a whole bunch from California—both northern California and southern California.
FORTY-SEVEN!!!!!
I don't know which depressed me more—the realization that folks would actually pay money to incorporate such a vapid device to expand on the liturgy OR the realization that I am as provincial as I hope I never would become. I guess I hadn't seen it all and done it all. There is a lacuna in my professional Weltenschaung.
I knew nothing about this practice. Now, I know much more than I ever wanted to.
During my daily commute, I ruminated over this practice and tried to discern how and why does a practice like this one come about. What is lacking in the liturgy which created such a void? What is the condition of the bereaved that they would find this practice meaningful?
Of course, by the time the fowl are released, it's too late to change one's mind and ask for one's money back. The blatancy of the forced simile as the birds are released the soul is released is almost embarrassing. It smacks of meaning full ritual in the Las Vegas tradition.
Still, I find the dreaded wedding candle equally embarrassing, but I never attempted marriage, so what do I know.
On this Web site that was generously shared with me, there is a picture of a handsome, lidded basked erected on some type of pedestal. A large ribbon is wrapped around the basket.
My assumption is that there are birds in the basket. They are probably OK in there, but, again, what do I know? Carrier pigeons are carried around in some type of container. Perhaps, this basket is one of them.
During my ruminations, I wondered why the animal rights people are silent on this issue. I also wonder if pigeons or doves are used in the liturgy in any way, if the disclaimer "No birds, no animals with our without cloven hooves, no domestic pets, no animals in captivity have been harmed or mishandled in this liturgy" is not indeed necessary.
One positive realization I made in this escapade is that it is better that there are some things I don't know about. I see the reason now why I never visited Las Vegas . . . both my faith and my stomach are not strong enough.
You can reach Fred Moleck via email at fmoleck@earthlink.net