Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Mob boss denied funeral Mass

Think that only ancient Greeks had controversy over burials? Think again.

What if someone were to deny Catholic burial rights to a practicing murderer? Would it be just? Such is the conflict behind the Gotti family's dispute with the Catholic Church over the rejected burial Mass of mob boss, John Gotti.

Here is the story:
http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Christianity/Catholic/2002/06/Gotti-Denied-Catholic-Funeral-Mass.aspx

Questions to explore:
  • Should there be any sympathy towards Gotti or his family? Why or why not?
  • How is this controversy different from that of Antigone's attempts to provide her brother ith his rights?
  • Where do you stand? How would you resolve it?
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19 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. 1) no, i dont think there should be an sympathy towards gotti, he deserves to have a bad burial. There should be some sympathy towards his family though. they didnt do anything.
    2)ist different because polynices wasnt killing people just because he could, he was fighting for the things he wanted.
    3)i wouldnt. i would let the family resolve it within themselves.

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  3. 1. Yes, because everyone should be reconized for their good not only their bad.
    2. Creon didn't want to buried Poloyneices; the Catholic church didn't want to have the mobster's funeral at the church.
    3. I would just let the family have the funeral at the church because they are alresdy going thruogh enough with the death.

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  5. i dont think that he should be burried in that cemetry. but sympathy should be shown. the family should be told the same thing as gottis.

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  6. There should be no sympathy towards Gotti, but his family do deserve some sympathy because while Gotti lived a life of crime his family have to deal with the aftershocks of his actions.

    This is different from Antigones situation because the family doesn't beleive that Gotti's soul will have to walk the; they just want him to have final rights.

    I believe that its the Church's right to deny Gotti of a mass. The situation has a very simple solution; let the family have a small private mass and have Gotti buried in the family mausoleum.

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  7. 1) i think that the family should have some sympathy...even though he did commit many crimes and several murders noone should be cruel to the family they didnt do anything
    2)Everyone should kbe granted the same rights...whether they choose to use them is up to them.
    3)i would let them burry Gotti in the cemetary. Everyone deserves something nice even if they do commit a murder they still deserve to be burried in the cemetery of their choice or with the family that is burried there too.

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  8. well really there should be some sympathy because they are human but far as them being buried in that cematary no. what i would do to resolve this is to tell gottis family the same thing as the church told his family because they dont deserve it because they didnt follow there religion.

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  9. There should be sympathy towards Gotti and his family because he is a person just like anyone else. He is a murderer, but people make mistakes and should have a funeral. He should also be able to be buried in the church graveyard because he is the only one who knows if he is a Christian and truly believes in God or not.

    This controversy is different from that of Antigone's attempt to provide her brother with his rights because Antigone ended up winning, and in this case, Gotti does not end up getting properly buried.

    I would bury the body in the church graveyard and give Gotti a proper funeral. That would be the right thing to do.

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  10. well I believe no matter what everybody deserves a proper burial no matter what the situation they have suffered more than enough in this hellistic pergatorial life and so they should be given a good rest in the afterlife

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  11. I believe that nobody deserves to die and because of that they should at least have a celebration of the fact that they had a life even if they chose to use their time living in a bad way. I think that if the church has teachings and you do not live your life through those philosophys that they have a right to deny you buriel in that specific cemetary but funerals are a closing for the family and should be left in the families hands. I think that in antigone maybe because of his treason polynieces may not have deserved a buriel in thebes but in another location it may have been appropriate because he as a human should at least get respect and honors for living. this is different because they never said gotti could not be buried unlike polynieces they just said he should not get a funeral. I think that in a time of grieving for a lost loved one that a family should not have to deal with all this publicty honestly when you have just lost someone you love the last thing you want is to be told that you are not allowed to have a closure for this persons life. I feel bad for the gotti family because of the death and the inprisonment of many members of the family and because they have so much publicity.

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  12. i dont feel any sympathy for them because of the killing an crimes they have commited

    it was diffrent because he commited crimes and wasnt fighting for a kingdom

    i dont care ,they should just let him have a normal funeral

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  13. 1.yes because its just a funeral what does it matter who the person is he is dead i fill when u die u lose your name and what u where for when u were alive.
    2.in antigone polynices went aganist his on ppl
    3.i would just let them have the funeral and go on wit my life

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  15. No i dont think their family dersevers any simpanty or chances because what he did was wrong.
    its different because they dont believe them walking on the earth after death.
    A proper funeral would the right thing to do because even though u didnt live correct life everyone still dersvers one.

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  16. if a bad person has done something wrong they dont get a proper burial if a good person does a good thing they get the burial... basically the catholics believe the "an eye for an eye"

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  17. Everyone should have a proper funeral or however they wanted their funeral be.(buried,burned,ect.)

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  18. This article seems to be seening something that is negative and seeing the out come which are ther children into something postive.

    its relavent to the story we are reading because Young Ju's dad is aggresive and abuusive and might have a certain type of addiction.

    iam thinkning that Young Ju will be resilient when she is older. She will be a strong and independent young Gook women. She will probably remeber these moments that are in her life right now as a little girl. but will she gets older it will help her be a women that forgets the past and becomes quiet and successful.

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  19. Yes there should be sympathy for his family but none for john himself. he was a cruel man and does not deserve to be burried with a mass in a catholic cemetary. In antigone the burrials were sacred but now days they do not mean near as much as back in the day.
    I dont like john and what he stood for. I think john should have been burried in a pine box in a undisclosed location.

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