The Bishop's Weekly Column from the Parish Bulletin

OUR LADY OF FATIMA

CATHOLIC CHURCH

Send for the Funeral Directors

August 10th, 2006

"Another yellow fever victim in the window seat ?" Arsenic and Old Lace

It used to be that the Sacrament of Extreme Unction was administered to those who were truly in danger of death, not just those facing hospital tests, surgery or even the common cold (in the latter example, I jest - but only just !). Hence it would have been also natural to have had the funeral directors standing by for burial arrangements to be put in place. Consequently the "end would have been in sight" for some time. At the last breath, it would have been all over and the famous commendation prayers would be recited from the Traditional Rituale Romanum.

In a manner of speaking that is actually exactly what has taken place just recently, but some (the Surgeon General) haven't yet received news of the passing. I am sure that once the message is received by all, then Masses will be offered for the souls concerned. Although the cause of illness had been known for some time, it was thought only necessary to use aggressive treatment towards the end, but the initial "terminal" prognosis was validated after all.

Further cases, however, have been discovered, but it is feared that the same results will eventually be seen. It seems that the condition goes into a remission for a while but then the condition rapidly worsens and is always fatal. The doctors just don't seem to be able to find a cure, but then it is they themselves that carry the infection, their research trials in the 1960s and 1970s have lead to what appears to be an incurable situation. Now I do not advocate in the slightest that people should avoid the doctors for fear of contagion, but I am an advocate for alternative methodologies and Traditional medicine which is, after all, tried and trusted. When today's healthcare professionals look to older treatments then perhaps there might be hope for a cure, but such doesn't look likely, and I for one am not in the slightest bit interested any more !

In any case, the recent results have caused me to contact the funeral directors so we can bury the deceased with due dignity and honor. I shall always wonder, though, what might have been, but then when the race for the cure never took place, why speculate: Send for the funeral directors !

+TF