<p>Here is a question for those familiar with the Catholic Church. By all accounts, Joe Paterno and his family attended Mass regularly at their local Catholic Church in State College.
Several anecdotal interviews with students demonstrated that–they’d met him in church as well as walking around campus, to and from his simple home that was located very close to the campus. I’m wondering why the family wouldn’t have their private service (family and close friends according to the reports I’ve read) at their church. Instead they opted for the campus chapel where the public visitations had been held. I read that over 30,000 people visited the closed casket at which a current football player and a former letterman stood vigil. I’m not familiar enough with the Catholic faith to know what’s involved in making the choice to not have a Mass but knew I’d learn something from my CC friends. I thought the funeral Mass was very important to devout Catholics, a term I’ve heard used to describe Coach Paterno.</p>
<p>I assume it’s just a logistics thing.</p>
<p>I would assume that the chapel at Penn is non-denominational as is the one at my S school so maybe they preferred to just keep it at a small, private place.</p>
<p>They are having a private funeral. This was just the “viewing”.
[Joe</a> Paterno’s funeral scheduled for Wednesday; first public viewing is Tuesday on Penn State campus | PennLive.com](<a href=“http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2012/01/joe_paternos_funeral_scheduled.html]Joe”>Joe Paterno's funeral scheduled for Wednesday; first public viewing is Tuesday on Penn State campus - pennlive.com)</p>
<p>This guy was a FOOTBALL COACH.</p>
<p>He didn’t invent a cure for cancer.</p>
<p>The fact that 30,000 people showed up, to me at least, shows how our priorities in this country have gone seriously off the track.</p>
<p>Plus, his excuse regarding his failure to report the child abuser was VERY lame.</p>
<p>He told a superior.</p>
<p>Then the superior did nothing (what a surprise), and Paterno concluded that he had met his obligation.</p>
<p>While I am a big college football fan, I would prefer that my son go to a school without a football team. It is a big distraction from academics, and most of the players could never earn admission to the university under regular standards, which means that essentially, they are hired guns, most of whom have little interest in going to college.</p>
<p>Does a mass have to occur inside a Catholic church? Couldn’t they still have mass inside the campus chapel???</p>
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</p>
<ol>
<li><p>No.</p></li>
<li><p>Yes.</p></li>
</ol>
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</p>
<p>[SHC</a> News: Schreyer Honors College](<a href=“http://www.shc.psu.edu/news/news_item.cfm?id=140]SHC”>http://www.shc.psu.edu/news/news_item.cfm?id=140)</p>
<p>Cheering from the stands or watching the game from home, you can be sure to find Schreyer Scholar and Academic All-American Stefen Wisniewski on the field. Wisniewski is quick to point out that Penn State football player is not the only label of which he’s proud.
“I feel like as a football player I’m representing the honors college and the team. Because the football team is the face of the university I’m representing two of the great things about the university: the honors college and the football team. I take pride in that and I try to represent both with honor. Homecoming is a great time to do that.”
Off the field, Wisniewski takes both his academics and civic engagement seriously, volunteering his time with Athletes in Action, Campus Crusade for Christ, and various student teaching organizations. He attributes his hard work and dedication to the opportunities the honors college has afforded him.</p>
<p>Yeah, Wouldn’t want this kid influencing your son floridadad…that’s IF your son could get admitted into the honors program.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.gopsusports.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/paterno_joe00.html[/url]”>http://www.gopsusports.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/paterno_joe00.html</a>
"Since Paterno began leading the program in 1966, Penn State has had 78 first-team All-Americans, with guard Stefen Wisniewski earning the distinction in 2010. Wisniewski was selected first team All-Big Ten for the second consecutive year and a National Football Foundation Scholar-Athlete. He was joined by senior tailback Evan Royster as a three-time all-conference honoree.</p>
<p>During Paterno’s remarkable tenure, the Nittany Lions have counted 16 National Football Foundation Scholar-Athletes, 37 first-team Capital One/CoSIDA All-Americans® (47 overall) and 18 NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship winners. Penn State has had at least one Academic All-American® in each of the past nine years, with 13 first team honorees since 2006.</p>
<p>p>Winner of the 2005 Butkus and Bednarik awards, All-America linebacker Paul Posluszny was selected the 2006 CoSIDA Academic All-American®-of-the-Year in Division I football and was a two-time first team Academic All-American®.</p>
<p>Penn State’s 89 percent graduation rate and 85 percent Graduation Success Rate were tops among all teams in the Associated Press’ final 2009 Top 25 poll, according to NCAA data. The Nittany Lions’ GSR and four-year federal graduation rate were second only to Northwestern among Big Ten Conference teams, according to the NCAA’s 2010 graduation report"</p>
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</p>
<p>I had a classmate killed in a car accident the summer between my junior and senior year of high school. In a town of about 10k, there were probably close to 2,000 people that came to his visitation over a two-day period and over a 5-600 at the funeral.</p>
<p>The reason that he is so beloved is that those who were TOTAL non-athletes who met him were blown away by his kindness, his warmth, and his interest. Disclosure - my older D is a PSU alum. She is NOT an athlete. Her interactions with Coach Paterno were amazing. She would walk thru fire for that family. And if he was special, Sue is in a whole other category. You would have to have met them to understand the love people have for them. </p>
<p>He wasn’t JUST a football coach.</p>
<p>Egad he was pennstate rah rah rah…he did what he did for a school. He was leader of his bubble of a world. </p>
<p>That fact he was catholic I find interesting. The parallels of both scandals can’t be ignored. He did exactly as the leaders of the church did.</p>
<p>Time to add some folks to the ignore list.</p>
<p>Wasn’t aware a funeral mass could be held in a nondenominational chapel. I agree with the OP it seems odd that a devout Catholic family would opt out of having a service at their church. I get the visitation (reports said viewing, but the casket was closed, so it doesn’t seem to be an accurate term in this case), but not the actual funeral service. Maybe it was just logistics and their priest came to the chapel to perform the mass.</p>
<p>I think his lack of reporting/following-up on the abuse reports was more related to his advanced age than from a lack of responsibility or cover-up. I think men of that generation were largely unaware of that kind of abuse. He stated in his last interview that he had never heard of rape related to a man. (I can believe that is true, just thinking of my own grandfather at that age.) One could make a case that he should have been more aware and I wouldn’t disagree, but it’s easy for me to understand that many men from that era just weren’t aware of such perversions.</p>
<p>Seahorserock, your parallels are a bit of a stretch. Just my opinion.</p>
<p>We didn’t have a funeral mass for my mom. It isn’t required. We did have a funeral service at the funeral parlor lead by the priest who visited her at the nursing home where she was confined for the last year of her life and then prayers of internment when her ashes were buried in a Catholic cemetery. </p>
<p>Funeral masses aren’t required. It is possible to have one in a college chapel if mass is held there.</p>
<p>[Jay</a> Paterno Moved By Support - ESPN Video - ESPN](<a href=“http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=7496837]Jay”>http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=7496837)</p>
<p>Paterno’s son mentions a mass being held in his father’s hospital room in this ESPN interview. Not a Penn State fan at all, but found the interview to be quite touching.</p>
<p>The private service this afternoon was a Roman Catholic Mass.
[Joe</a> Paterno of Penn State Nittany Lions – Thousands line funeral procession route - ESPN](<a href=“http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7503106/joe-paterno-penn-state-nittany-lions-thousands-line-funeral-procession-route]Joe”>Joe Paterno of Penn State Nittany Lions -- Thousands line funeral procession route - ESPN)</p>
<p>Thanks for the clarification. He certainly touched lots of lives. May he rest in peace…</p>
<p>How come so many CCer’s cannot tell the difference between a public viewing and a private Catholic funeral Mass?</p>
<p>Not aware of difficulty with differentiation between the two. </p>
<p>When I posted my orginal question, I was unaware the service held at the chapel on campus for family/close friends was indeed a Catholic mass. This, along with many other things on CC, led to my learning something new…a Mass doesn’t have to be in a Catholic church. I’ve always believed this to be a ‘safe’ venue to ask such questions.</p>
<p>One more ESPN commentary–</p>
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</p>
<p>[Rick</a> Reilly - Paterno’s True Legacy - ESPN](<a href=“http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/7492873/rick-reilly-paterno-true-legacy]Rick”>Rick Reilly - Paterno's True Legacy - ESPN)</p>
<p>What a lot of people don’t seem to get is that he was about a lot more than football. The Penn State library is named for him, not the stadium. He donated millions to the university. He saved the classics department. He endowed a scholarship in the name of his high school Latin teacher. And while his lack of action may have ruined some lives, there were also scores of student athletes who went to Penn State and because of Joe Paterno left with a degree and went on to have productive lives. This might not have happened had they matriculated to other schools, particularly in the seventies and eighties.</p>