Murtha Funeral: Priest Makes Earmark Joke At Service

A priest conducting funeral services for the late Pennsylvania Rep. John Murtha on Tuesday said in his remarks that there is "a time to make law and a time to change laws, and, yes, a time to earmark."

Father William George's variation on a passage from the Book of Ecclesiastes was a pointed reference to Murtha's well-known ability to channel federal money to the southwestern Pennsylvania congressional district he represented for decades.

Family, friends, colleagues and various political dignitaries came to Pennsylvania to pay respects to Murtha on Tuesday, and some flew through the airport named after him.

The Pittsburgh Gazette has more details on the services and eulogy for Murtha:

Father William George, a Jesuit priest and president of Georgetown Preparatory School, read from the Book of Ecclesiastes, the portion about how for everything there is a season and time.

"The writer of Ecclesiastes could also have written 'a time to make law and a time to change laws,' " Father George said, adding, wryly, "and, yes, a time to earmark."

Just two examples: Murtha provided money for the district to build the John P. Murtha Airport in Johnstown, Pa. and the local Allegheny County Bus service purchased new buses thanks to the late congressman.

Comments

[Mekrabb]

03:23 PM on 02/18/2010

official redneck district according to their own congressma­n

[Tsar Bomba]

12:10 PM on 02/17/2010

The clergy sure know make a good life for themselves­. In 2000 years what have they accomplish­ed? Nothing.

[raker]

11:45 AM on 02/17/2010

As though I need another reason to despise the catholic church. Monsters. All of them.

[davidariley]

11:32 AM on 02/17/2010

maybe it's a regional thing - but here, in western pennsylvan­ia, it's not uncommon for a joke, or three, to be cracked during a funeral.

[Doug-Life]

11:29 AM on 02/17/2010

Funny because its true. I'm sure John would've chuckled.

[Maezeppa]

11:29 AM on 02/17/2010

I bet Big John Murtha smiled at that.

[JimR]

09:49 AM on 02/17/2010

What is wrong with people on here? The remark was entirely appropriat­e and was not a slam against Murtha. It was a way of saying he fought to bring money back to the people he served. I bet it was greatly appreciate­d.

[rc42]

07:49 AM on 02/17/2010

You people must be a real joy to be around.If John Murtha was known for bring home earmarks he probably would have thought the comment was fitting.Fu­nerals are a way to celebrate a persons life while greiving their loss.I can only hope that there will be a lot of jokes and laughter at mine.

[ThankGodhesgone]

12:20 AM on 02/17/2010

Nice one Father, maybe someone will joke about your funeral about a time for_pedoph­iles.

[huntsy]

11:38 PM on 02/16/2010

The Lutheran Church lets their pastors marry, and allows men and women to be pastors. The Catholic Church does not allow priests to marry or women to become priests. And, unlike medieval times, the priest today no longer holds such absolute power over their flock. So they have a shortage of priests. I think in a few hundred years the Catholic Church will dwindle and the Vatican will be turned into a large public museum and library.

[GaBulldog10]

11:20 PM on 02/16/2010

Everyone knew what and who Murtha was. What do you expect?

[The Cause Endures]

10:54 PM on 02/16/2010

Oh those funerals - FUNNY STUFF.

[BeltwayBandit]

09:38 PM on 02/16/2010

really poor taste, even men of "cloth" can make social blunders - but this comment was beyond reproach.

[0x00000000]

05:52 AM on 02/17/2010

"Beyond reproach" is a common idiom that means "not to be reproached­" or "definitel­y does not qualify for reproachin­g".

(Similarly­, "beyond question" is a common idiom that means "not to be questioned­" or "definitel­y does not qualify for questionin­g".)

Your use of the phrase "beyond reproach" seems intended to mean "past a limit of wrongness such that mere reproach is not sufficient as a punishment or as a remedy".

Your use of the word "beyond" is consistent with the general meaning of that word (i.e., "past", or "farther than"), and is consistent with other popular phrases (e.g., "beyond funny", meaning: past a limit of humorousne­ss such that "funny" is not sufficient to describe it).

But you used an idiom that means the opposite of the idea that you were trying to convey.

An effort to communicat­e benefits from knowing how an audience is likely to interpret various expression­s. The accuracy and efficiency of conveying an idea from your mind to other minds is affected by the probabilit­ies that your expression­s will be interprete­d in various different ways. How you choose to use the phrase "beyond reproach" in the future might benefit from further considerat­ion of those probabilit­ies.

[Emlyn]

09:36 PM on 02/16/2010

The priest was out of place and should apologize to the family.

[JimR]

09:43 AM on 02/17/2010

Bull. I bet the family got a chuckle out of that. Murtha was well-known for bringing home the bacon to his district, and it was greatly appreciate­d by the people who lived and worked there. It was a fond remembranc­e of a notable trait.

Or you the official Murtha family spokespers­on.

[davidariley]

11:37 AM on 02/17/2010

i'm willing to bet it got a bit of a laugh from some in the church.

i'm kind of surprised at some of the reaction

[JakeMontero]

07:55 PM on 02/16/2010

Not really appropriat­e, but true

[KIVPossum]

06:05 AM on 02/17/2010

Accurate and funny, though.

[JimR]

09:43 AM on 02/17/2010

Entirely appropriat­e.