{"id":580,"date":"2009-07-01T13:41:58","date_gmt":"2009-07-01T13:41:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/pontifications\/2009\/07\/farrahs-funeral-mass.html"},"modified":"2009-07-01T13:41:58","modified_gmt":"2009-07-01T13:41:58","slug":"farrahs-funeral-mass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/2009\/07\/farrahs-funeral-mass.html","title":{"rendered":"Farrah’s funeral mass"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\"Farrah<\/span>It took place at Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral in Los Angeles on Tuesday, and seemed to represent everything about Farrah Fawcett, and the Catholic imagination–if you can imagine that combo. I can, or I would like to. <\/p>\n

For one thing, there was the funeral program–at right–with a cover I’d like to have for my sendoff: it’d draw a lot more people. <\/p>\n

On the inside cover was a poem by James Joyce, “At That Hour”<\/strong><\/a>, which concludes:<\/p>\n

\n

“Play on, invisible harps, unto Love,
Whose way in heaven is aglow
At that hour when soft lights come and go,
Soft sweet music in the air above
And in the earth below.”<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

A bagpiper in a kilt played “Amazing Grace” and the stars turned out: Joan Collins, Tatum O’Neal, Marla Maples, and Charlie’s Angels<\/em> costar Kate Jackson turned out, according to PEOPLE magazine<\/strong><\/a>. The LATimes<\/strong><\/a> also spotted Jaclyn Smith and Cheryl Ladd (who replaced Fawcett on 70s show), and Fawcett’s ex Lee Majors, of “The Six-Million Dollar Man” fame) with whom she reconnected with recently after two decades.<\/p>\n

Her elderly father was there. Her longtime partner, Ryan O’Neal was a pallbearer and their 24-year-old son, Redmond, was allowed out of jail (he has a drug problem) to bear the casket as well.<\/p>\n

He apparently “sat in the cathedral flanked by two sheriff’s deputies.” And he did the first reading, Lamentations 3:17-26<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n
My soul is deprived of peace, I have forgotten what happiness is; <\/em><\/p>\n
I tell myself my future is lost, all that I hoped for from the LORD. <\/em><\/p>\n
The thought of my homeless poverty is wormwood and gall; <\/em><\/p>\n
Remembering it over and over leaves my soul downcast within me. <\/em><\/p>\n
But I will call this to mind, as my reason to have hope: <\/em><\/p>\n
The favors of the LORD are not exhausted, his mercies are not spent; <\/em><\/p>\n
They are renewed each morning, so great is his faithfulness. <\/em><\/p>\n
My portion is the LORD, says my soul; therefore will I hope in him. <\/em><\/p>\n
Good is the LORD to one who waits for him, to the soul that seeks him; <\/em><\/p>\n
It is good to hope in silence for the saving help of the LORD. <\/em><\/dd>\n
<\/em> <\/dd>\n
Ryan O’Neal read Wisdom 3:1-9<\/strong><\/a>:<\/dd>\n
 <\/dd>\n
But the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them. They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead; and their passing away was thought an affliction and their going forth from us, utter destruction. But they are in peace.<\/em><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

For if before men, indeed, they be punished, yet is their hope full of immortality; <\/em><\/p>\n

Chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed, because God tried them and found them worthy of himself. <\/em><\/p>\n
As gold in the furnace, he proved them, and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself. <\/em><\/p>\n
In the time of their visitation they shall shine, and shall dart about as sparks through stubble; <\/em><\/p>\n
They shall judge nations and rule over peoples, and the LORD shall be their King forever. <\/em><\/p>\n
Those who trust in him shall understand truth, and the faithful shall abide with him in love: Because grace and mercy are with his holy ones, and his care is with the elect. <\/em><\/dt>\n
<\/em> <\/dt>\n
\n

A bit Calvinist at the end, but after the mass, the guests went to a reception where a band played Fawcett’s favorite songs, including those by Van Morrison. <\/p>\n<\/dt>\n

No mention of the celebrant or his homily–but I guess that’s Hollywood. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It took place at Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral in Los Angeles on Tuesday, and seemed to represent everything about Farrah Fawcett, and the Catholic imagination–if you can imagine that combo. I can, or I would like to. 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He came by all those vocations by accident, or Providence, during a longer-than-expected sojourn in Rome in the 1980s. Gibson began his journalistic career as a walk-on sports editor and columnist at The International Courier, a small daily in Rome serving Italy's English-language community. He then found a job as a newscaster and writer across the Tiber at the English Programme at Vatican Radio, an entity he describes as a cross between NPR and Armed Forces Radio for the pope. The Jesuits who ran the radio were charitable enough to hire Gibson even though he had no radio background, could not pronounce the name \"Karol Wojtyla,\" and wasn't Catholic. Time and experience overcame all those challenges, and Gibson went on to cover dozens of John Paul II's overseas trips, including papal visits to Africa, Europe, Latin America and the United States. When Gibson returned to the United States in 1990 he returned to print journalism to cover the religion beat in his native New Jersey for two dailies. He worked first for The Record of Hackensack, and then for The Star-Ledger of New Jersey, winning the nation's top awards in religion writing at both places. In 1999 he won the Supple Religion Writer of the Year contest, and in 2000 he was chosen as the Templeton Religion Reporter of the Year. Gibson is a longtime board member of the Religion Newswriters Association and he is a contributor to ReligionLink, a service of the Religion Newswriters Foundation. Since 2003, David Gibson has been an independent writer specializing in Catholicism, religion in contemporary America, and early Christian history. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Boston Magazine, Commonweal, America, The New York Observer, Beliefnet and Religion News Service. He has produced documentaries on early Christianity for CNN and other networks and has traveled on assignment to dozens of countries, with an emphasis on reporting from Europe and the Middle East. He is a frequent television commentator and has appeared on the major cable and broadcast networks. He is also a regular speaker at conferences and seminars on Catholicism, religion in America, and journalism. Gibson's first book, The Coming Catholic Church: How the Faithful are Shaping a New American Catholicism (HarperSanFrancisco), was published in 2003 and deals with the church-wide crisis revealed by the clergy sexual abuse crisis. The book was widely hailed as a \"powerful\" and \"first-rate\" treatment of the crisis from \"an academically informed journalist of the highest caliber.\" His second book, The Rule of Benedict: Pope Benedict XVI and His Battle with the Modern World (HarperSanFrancisco), came out in 2006 and is the first full-scale treatment of the Ratzinger papacy--how it happened, who he is, and what it means for the Catholic Church. The Rule of Benedict has been praised as \"an exceptionally interesting and illuminating book\" from \"a master storyeller.\" Born and raised in New Jersey, David Gibson studied European history at Furman University in South Carolina and spent a year working on Capitol Hill before moving to Italy. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife and daughter and is working on a book about conversion, and on several film and television projects.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/author\/dgibson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/128"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=580"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/580\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/pontifications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}