Marion,

It's been a year or maybe even two or more since I first heard about this controversy, so I don't have a link or other reference at my fingertips. When I first heard something about this, I did a Google search on ["Danny Boy" +"Catholic" +"funeral"] and found more articles than I could read. Now that time has gone by, there are probably fewer stories still posted anywhere.

I believe the idea was to eliminate anything "too" secular, but "Danny Boy" was definitely singled out. I'm pretty sure that no other song was mentioned. Seems like Irish-American Catholics were singled out, too -- surprisingly, since so very many of the priests and bishops are themselves of the same ancestry. Perhaps they're quicker to be tough on their own than upon the Italians, Poles, etc.

Various commentators expressed disagreement with the Church, but others agreed and went even further: "Danny Boy" is not only secular, but, worse yet, British (or Scottish) and therefore Protestant. I don't know -- the reference in the lyrics to "say an 'Ave' there for me" sounds pretty Catholic to me; Protestants don't ordinarily pray the Hail Mary in English, let alone in Latin.

The melody, if I'm not mistaken, is traditionally known as the "Londonderry Air" -- not the "Derry Air" -- which makes it a bit suspect to some, I suppose. I like to think of it as the "London Derriere." ;^)

TH