The practice of including eulogies in Catholic funerals was strongly discouraged yesterday by the Archbishop of Armagh.
In a letter to the priests of the diocese of Armagh, Dr Sean Brady said that "requests by members of the family to speak after the Prayer after Communion should be firmly but sensitively refused".
Dr Brady noted that according to the Order of Christian Funerals, the church's manual for conducting the funeral rite, "a brief homily based on the readings should always be given at the funeral liturgy, but never any kind of eulogy."
Dr Brady said that including a eulogy could "lead to unnecessary duplication of the sentiments expressed in the homily and in the Prayer of the Faithful.
"It can cause unnecessarily severe emotional stress to expect a member of the family to address the congregation immediately before the final commendation and farewell".
"Such a practice distracts, sometimes seriously, from the sacred nature of the liturgy and occasionally may be offensive to the congregation."
The letter suggested occasions when a eulogy could be delivered. "Other opportunities are available to acknowledge the life of the deceased, for example, at the graveside, at the meal afterwards or in columns of the local newspapers," it said.
A spokesman for the Archbishop said that the practice of including eulogies was a "growing trend" and one which in recent times had "crept in; it has no place in the liturgy".
He also emphasised that Dr Brady was not the first Irish bishop to make such an instruction as two other bishops had recently done so.
"There is no intention other than that the family be fully involved in the funeral," in such ways as choosing readings and bidding prayers in choosing readings, he said.
A church source stressed that it would still be up to each individual bishop to decide what was appropriate in his diocese.