Think that only ancient Greeks had controversy over burials? Think again.
What if someone were to deny Catholic burial rights to a practicing murder? 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:
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 with his rights?
- Where do you stand? How would you resolve it?
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The Catholic tradition is that only the "worthy" can be buried in hallowed or sacrosanct ground--if you committed "mortal sins" you were not allowed burial in a Catholic burial site. I know that previously suicides were not buried in holy ground because suicide was a sin against God that could not be forgiven. (I do not know if this is still the case.) I am guessing that since Gotti was a notorious sinner who was responsible for the deaths of so many and died unrepentant, the Church could not accept his body in holy ground. I bet that families whose loved ones had been rejected by the Church would have raised an outcry if Gotti had been permitted to be buried in holy ground.
ReplyDeleteI think there should be a little sympathy because he is a human being and he did have cancer which is a very painful and devastating disease. But i understand where the Catholic Church Cemetary is coming from because i am Catholic and the Church is very strict on how you live your live and whether you abied by the church rules or not. In Antigone maybe her brother killed a lot of people and has died but is being baffled and people are being cruel to him and his family. I would have to see where both sides are coming from to resolve it. I do stand on the Catholic Church's side in the Gotti case because he killed people and he doesn't deserve to get burried in a Church cemetary.
ReplyDeleteYes. I beleive everyone deserves a proper burial even if he did live his life through crime. For his brother they didnt fight against the fact that he didnt get a proper burial. I think they both should have a proper burial with a funneral for the family to attend.
ReplyDeleteyes, there should be sympathy toward the Gotti family, because even though he made bad choices, he should still recieve a proper burial.
ReplyDeleteAntigone's story is different because there was no conflict on whether or not he could get a proper burial, and there is some people standing up for Gotti's rights.
I think there should proper burials for everyone no matter what they did.
Yea i think there should be sympathy towards both Gotti and his family. cuz even if he was a criminal, the church ppl should put that aside and let them have mass cuz its the right thing to do! idk the second question! idk!
ReplyDeleteFRED
Yes I think that there should be sympathy towards Gotti or his family because I believe that they should have thir own rights on being able to he commited murder I think he should be able to have a funeral even though he has disobeyed the beliefs in church. This controversy is different from that of Antigone's attempts to provide her brother with his rights because Gotti is able to make his own decisions but Antigone's is trying to make her brothers decisions not giving him a chance to think on his own. I believe that Gottin shoulld have his own rights with the funeral because even though he has not met the standards of the church and i also believe that God can only judge him. I would resolve this by taking a chance in trying to receive my rights .
ReplyDeletehey
ReplyDeleteyes just because he did some bad things in his lifetime dosen't mean he should be affected by it in his afterlife.I would let him in because i'm not going to deny him the rights to be buried
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ReplyDeleteYea i think there should be sympathy towards both Gotti and his family. cuz even if he was a criminal, the church ppl should put that aside and let them have mass cuz its the right thing to do! idk the second question! idk!
ReplyDeleteI think it's unfair. Just because he was a criminal doesn't mean he doesn't deserve a propper burial. They denied him burial because he was a criminal. That's unfair. I don't really know how I would resovle it.
ReplyDeletewell i think they should have given him a mass because that was still his religon. who cares if he killed some one not saying that it was right but still its not right to say that because of something you did back in the day you should pay when you are dead. The reason i said that was because he had already paid when he was alive now that he is dead why should you pay. The fact is yes he did kill some people who said that these people were good people. But i dont feel that it was right in anyway because every one should be able to rest in peace were ever they want to.
ReplyDeleteNo because he killed someone. Nobody desires to get their life taken from another human, and as for gotti family i feel bad that his son got killed but it was karma if he was going around killing people his son would have never died. That old man did not mean to hit him his son so for that old man to just up and be "missing" is real wrong. I think that gotti should got to prison for life so that he isnt harming anyone else.
ReplyDeleteJameelah
I really don't know how I feel about this situation. On the one hand, denying his family the right to hold a mass for Gotti is punishing his family. His family should have the right to say good bye to him, despite the fact that he was a criminal. Yet, on the other hand, his family may have been involved with his crimes, so they may not deserve to say good bye to their "leader." However, when it all comes down to it, this is what I think: Gotti is dead. Whether you do or do not give him the full ceremony, it will never matter to or affect him in any way.
ReplyDeleteI would think that no matter what you have done you would still get a burial. He killed people, yes but he shouldn't be denied the right to a burial over anything. It is insane.
ReplyDeleteEven through he killed all those people and had a life of crime I think he still has the right to a proper burial, so his family can "honor" him.
ReplyDeleteYes, there should be some sympathy on the Gotti's family because anyone can have many errors in there life. Antigone was giving her brother some rights because he may have done some bad stuff in the city and maybe people want to pay like Gotti that they maybe didn't give him a proper bruial. I stand on both side because they are both right in there way i understand the catolic religon but Gotti should still have a proper bruial.
ReplyDeleteI believe that sympathy should be given to Gotti's family. I know that he commited crimes but his family still loved him. I understand where the Catholic religion is coming from, but I still stand by my decision. Antigone situation is that she is trying to burry he brother that did bad stuff, and that is kind-of the same situation with Gotti. I would allow a proper burial to be made. Even though, he was a crimial and did bad things, his family deserves a proper burial for him.
ReplyDeletewell i dont really know what i would do. i mean as a family view yea i would have alot of sympathy for them expecily since he had cancer. iknow how bad it hurts to have a family member die with cancer my aunt only has 6 months to live because she has cancer so yea i would be really hurt. on the other hand though think about the familys ha has hurt by killin all thoes people. to them they lost somone to so why show pity on them. there a=is alot of difference to me because he never killed anyone yea he didnt do the right thing but he never killed a bunch of people like that guy did and Antigone thought that was wrong and i agree because it is her brother and they should have treated he the same way.
ReplyDeleteI think that there should be some sort of sympathy towards the Gotti family because one of their family members has just died of a disease and would not be fair for them to be treated differently from any other family just because he was a member of the mob. This controversy is dofferent from the one in Antigone when she wanted to bury her brother because in Antigone she was not able to bury her brother just because he was considered a traitor to the city because he had a war with them and the Gotti's were not able to have a mass at the burial because he was a member of the mob and had killed a lot of people. I think that they should allow them family to have a mass because he should not be treated any different just because he was a member of the mob and because he killed someone.
ReplyDeletei think they should have sympathy but that doesn't mean he should have a ceremony. he killed many people so even if he had a catholic ceremony that doesn't necessarily mean he's going to "heaven". it's the same situation with gotti's family and antigone. they just want the best burial for him, and they are being denied the right. i would deny the right to a mass, but i would still buring through other non religious assosciations.
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