On a cloudy morning last January, the grieving couple arrived at St. Michael's Church in Olympia, Wash., to bury their only son. He had died at 37, leaving a wife and two young children. The parents' first anxiety developed even before the funeral Mass began: many of the worshipers entered the nave with cries of joy, and the celebrant, Father Paul Dalton, was clad in festive mod vestments. The rite began like a Chamber of Commerce luncheon, as worshipers were urged to introduce themselves. In his homily, Dalton reported that as the husband lay...
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