Canon lawyer Ed Peters shares his views on the Kennedy funeral:

The homily, which started well enough but steadily deteriorated, fell into various holes like (I’m quoting from memory): “the fruits of [Kennedy’s] work in politics well-prepared him for God’s kingdom” (Lord, I hope that’s not what he really meant); and “Kennedy tied his faith to justice in the land” (good grief, justice? for millions of unborn babies in the land? was that the fruit of Teddy’s faith?); and “we are confident that Kennedy has entered into the new dwelling of God” (maybe you are, Father).

The kid’s intercessions came out as unabashed advertisements for Democratic Party policy goals.

Mercifully, all the major networks used a single video feed, and pretty obviously somebody got to somebody ahead of time and ordered “Don’t, under any circumstances, show the Communion lines!”, so we were spared wincing as this famous Catholic pro-abort or that approached the Eucharist.

And finally, whodathunkit?, President Obama’s eulogy, though offered in violation of liturgical law, was actually the most palatable of what turned out to be three eulogies offered in violation of liturgical law, the first, Teddy Jr.’s, being maudlin, but mostly coherent if at times inappropriately partisan, while the second, that of Rep. Pat Kennedy, was embarrassingly pathetic and even included a joke about “that damn Kennedy” from the sanctuary. Sigh.

But what, in the end, most struck me, through whole ceremony, was how oblivious all the participants seemed to be (again, with the sole exception of Obama, who at least made one veiled reference to Kennedy’s “public faults”, and who was the only speaker to offer a prayer for Teddy’s soul), how oblivious, I say, all the participants were to Ted Kennedy’s disgraceful and chronic failings to defend the natural right to life (e.g., abortion, embryonic stem cell research), his refusal to protect the natural institution of marriage lately under such attack, and his bad example on a host of other issues of importance to Catholics and to the country. While a funeral is no place to rehearse, say, a man’s role in the death of a beautiful young woman, such events and conduct should have, I think, instilled some restraint in the rush to proclaim the man’s accomplishments. (As for those “accomplishments”, well, if one is wedded to the idea of a gigantic state, then Teddy’s accomplishments were admittedly many. But if you’re not enamored of statism, one might say that the damage Teddy helped inflict on the nation was great.) Instead, one speaker after another gushed on and on about Ted.

There’s more at the link.

Well, I didn’t think it was that bad. (Though I concur: the intercession idea — using the senator’s own words, and the youngest of his grandchildren — was not very well handled.) But it should be noted that Kennedy’s elder son, the first speaker, spoke pointedly about his father’s many failings, alluding to the fact that he clearly was not a saint.

But again, my big question: no deacons?? Go figure.