No Better Dead

The distinction between rich and poor may end at the grave, but in France, where some churches offer ten classes of funerals, it does not end a moment before. About $10 will send the French workingman to his maker in a dignified but austere manner; a minimum of $1,500 gives eminent members of the bourgeoisie a church bedecked inside and out with black silk draperies embossed with the initials of the deceased, plus a chorus of 30 voices accompanied by harps, trumpets, violins and cellos, and an elaborately carved casket resting on an ornate catafalque built especially for the occasion.

And do not ask for whom the bells toll; they toll for first-class funerals.

"Our parish churches--with their first, second-and third-class weddings and funerals--sound more like railroad companies than houses of the Lord." complained a Catholic layman. Maurice Cardinal Feltin, Archbishop of Paris, agreed.

Last week he decreed that, beginning Jan. 1, Paris churches will offer only one class of funeral and one class of wedding--and all for free. "For many people, we are men of money," said the cardinal.

"We must discredit this notion. We shall invite the faithful to forget the useless pomp and ceremony of the past and to accept evangelical simplicity. Indeed, death does remind us of our fundamental equality before God." The bourgeoisie did not want to be reminded, even though Feltin is allowing a transition period of compromise ostentation. Priests in rich parishes wondered how they were going to make up for the loss of revenue that they have got from fancy weddings and funerals.

"You don't think I'm going to leave the money to a charity or to the income tax collector, do you?'' stormed one Frenchman to a Figaro columnist. "I'm going to treat myself to a voyage to Bali, where they still have a taste for grand funerals."

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