1. Author: Br Stephen Dardis, LC - Reprint with Permission of
[email protected]
2. Al Copeland, the founder of Popeyes Chicken and Biscuits,
has a tomb that looks like no other. Vehicles zooming along the
interstate easily see some of Copelands treasures on public exhibit
at the cemetery: speed boats, monster trucks, and sports cars,
among other embellishments, and the ornate monument that encases
his body. None of these would accompany him now. Yet with four
marriages and a life clearly lived in the fast lane, his Catholic
funeral celebration provoked a lot of gossip.
3. Is that how the Church operates: pay the price, and anyone
can be saved? some asked. But one woman guessed the truth: He must
have done his First Fridays.
4. Just weeks before Als funeral he asked for a trip to Rome,
as he put it, to get things right with Jesus. The priest who
organized the trip remembers that, following a Mass in St. Peters,
the millionaire, his face disfigured from cancer, sat attentively
in his wheelchair, listening to a woman kneeling beside him. She
kept kissing his hand while praying the Rosary with him. The priest
could not see the womans face, but Al was evidently moved. Tears
were rolling down his face, and the priest knew that Al was getting
right with Jesus. Only a week before, Lourdes had commemorated the
150th anniversary of the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary to
St. Bernadette,
5. Those riding in the car sat silently and dumbfounded. We
that, on that very day, February 18th, France was celebrating the
Feast of St. Bernadette, which normally falls a week earlier. For
those present, the coincidence was just another confirmation of
Gods closeness during those moments. Following the healing baths
and with time running out before the return to Rome, a determined
and visibly moved Al Copeland managed to fulfill the rather complex
requirements of Lourdes Plenary Indulgence. His death followed only
weeks later.
6. Under criticism for allowing Mr. Copeland a Catholic funeral
Mass, the Church officials had only one response. This was not the
story of scandal, but of Divine Mercy. Those bemoaning his funeral
and all who hear the story might rediscover the source and
overwhelming joy of Christian hope, solidly founded upon Christ and
His promises, and solemnly entrusted to the ministry of the Church.
Christs words carry a lifetime guarantee, and God offers it to all
who will accept it. It is a fact that many souls live to hear that
same awe-inspiring promise extended to them, just as it was granted
once to a thief in his final hours: Today, you will be with me in
Paradise.