By: Patrick J. Gordon
John Gotti’s family was denied permission to hold a funeral Mass
for the convicted killer. The decision to deny Gotti this
fundamental right provided to all Catholics was handed down by
Brooklyn Bishop Thomas Daily. Although this is a rather
unusual occurrence, John Gotti is not the first organized crime
individual to have been denied a funeral Mass. Although Bishop
Daily denied Gotti an Ecclesiastic Mass, he compromised by allowing
Gotti’s Catholic burial.
Despite the compromise, this piece suggests that under the
circumstances the Bishop—to borrow a term from appellate
review—abused his discretion. While, according to the Code of Canon
Law, Bishop Daily has the authority to deny an individual such a
rite, denial is reserved for extreme circumstances.
Specifically, according to Canon 1184, an individual may be
deprived of “ecclesiastical funerals” if said person is a “manifest
sinner[]” and a funeral Mass cannot be granted without “public
scandal of the faithful.” Still, deprivation can only occur
if the person has not repented prior to death. Indeed, the funeral
of John Gotti might have brought about “public scandal,” therefore
providing grounds for depriving a Mass; however, it seems highly
unlikely that in all his time in prison John Gotti did not
repent. Supporting this theory are the concepts of
“redemption” and “forgiveness.” These notions are so ingrained
in Catholic beliefs as to create the inference that the Church
wants individuals to achieve salvation and will do all it can to
facilitate such. This is further supported by certain Church
practices, which I contend assist in creating a presumption that
Gotti did repent, thus rendering Canon 1184 inapplicable.
Finally, in past scenarios where individuals were denied funeral
rites the overwhelming trend was that they were individuals who had
been murdered as a result of their connections with organized crime
and presumably had not been allowed any opportunity to receive
Penance. Conversely, John Gotti died after a long battle with
cancer, making him well aware of his fate, and giving him two years
to contemplate his mistakes and to ask for God’s forgiveness.
Before addressing any of the issues set forth, it is important
to be aware that this work neither condones the actions of John
Gotti nor offers to hold him up as anything more than what he
was—the head of a major New York crime family. He was a despicable
individual, with the blood of many on his hands. However,
according to the beliefs of the Church, and in line with its
unification of law and theology, there should have been a much
different outcome than that which was reached in the case of John
Gotti.