This is a load of crap. The Roman Catholic Church has NOT banned the singing of Danny Boy at funerals. I was at a Roman Catholic funeral in St. Paul, MN (as Roman Catholic a town as they come in the Protestant dominated Upper Midwest) a week ago yesterday. Deceased, the father of one of my oldest friends, was very Irish American, very Catholic. and very active as a lay leader in his church up until the month before he succumbed to lung cancer at age 90.

Not only did the choir spontaneously perform Danny Boy in his honor at mass the Sunday morning after he passed--completely unbeknown to his surviving family in the pews--but the song was sung as a solo at the funeral mass, per request of the deceased family. As was Ave Maria.

Now, I know we're a liberal diocese here, but I'm quite sure if any edicts had been handed down by the Vatican on the performance of Danny Boy and Ave Maria at funeral masses here, we wouldn't be hearing them performed at nearly every fucking Catholic funeral for people over 75 for as long as I can remember.

But it is certainly a popular urban myth that the church has "banned" the performance of this music at funerals masses.

But perhaps some of the Catholic faithful around here, bunch of old pontificating windbags that they are, didn't get the email about that.