By Rev. MICHAEL BRESCIANI

Estimates are that about 9,500 people die per day in America. That means thousands of special services are carried on daily to honor the departed and ponder our own mortality. When celebrities or iconic figures die we are moved on a national scale to weigh our own brief stay on the planet. But what do we actually ponder and what questions does the death of icons provoke?

Farrah Fawcett and Ed McMahon are reported to be Catholic while Michael Jackson was a Jehovah’s Witness and Walter Cronkite was an Episcopalian. Some who belong to these religions may feel assured that because of their respective religious affiliations all is well with each of them.

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