My aunt told mourners at her father's funeral to convert to Christianity
My grandfather (1929–2026) was the most loving person, unfortunately because he saw the cost of hate firsthand. He escaped his invaded homeland of Poland as a teenager through making connections with German soldiers, but he was the only one in his family to make it out. He forged a new life for himself in America, marrying my grandmother. My Nana...was kind of a Karen, I'm not gonna lie. She pushed my grandpa around a lot, and criticized basically his every move. Grandpa was an ally to every walk of person, and never said a bad word about anyone. He was a quiet, introverted man who loved gardening and cooking. My Nana was an extroverted socialite, a gossip, and a judgmental bigot. Unfortunately, all 3 of their kids took way more after their mother, but her middle child, my aunt, is her mirror image. My dad and I call her La Carnicera ("The Butcher"), but I'll be referring to her as aunt Karina bc it sounds similar to Karen. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
In short, aunt Karina is a born-again, performative type of Christian that makes the rest of us in the Jesus Squad look absolutely insane to the rest of the world. She needs everyone to know how Christian she is, it's like a compulsion. You cannot take two steps into her house without running into a Bible quote, a cross, or a white Jesus. She's also, like my Nana, very judgmental of people who aren't Christians, like my Jewish dad and his family. Or my partner, whose atheism I think she takes higher issue with then the fact that they're trans. What drives me the slightest bit insane is that she played non-stop generic Christian guitar ballads on the TV in my grandpa's hospice room the last week of his life, and I had to turn it off after he already passed so the rest of us could cry in peace. (Side note, this incident unlocked a new fear of dying to bad music in me so my dad and I have now picked out what we're now calling our "Deathbed Soundtrack" of songs we'd like the family to play when it's our time.)
Hopefully that background knowledge was helpful for what actually went down the day of the funeral.
So the church only allowed 1 eulogy at the service. I honestly think that's ridiculous, but my grandpa was a founding member, so there's nowhere else he'd want us to do this. Aunt Karina, of course, wants to do it, and her siblings are too tired to fight her. And I'm not gonna lie, it started off very well. She went over the hardships grandpa faced, and how admirable it was for him to forge a family and a steady career, how much he loved every person he met on the street. I'm actually cracking a smile, enjoying this time of reflection on the best person I knew. I feel the slightest bit of peace for the first time in weeks (the funeral was 16 days after grandpa's death, btw, because Aunt Karina really needed to fly out of state with her husband for a little excursion).
And then she drops the line, "I hope that my father's life of faith has inspired those of you who have not accepted Jesus Christ as your savior to ensure your soul's eternal life, so you can meet again in Heaven." To the entire congregation of loved ones, from all walks of life, and all kinds of faiths, attending my grandpa's funeral. Including my dad, her brother-in-law of 40 freaking years, and his Jewish family.
Now I knew she was off the deep-end with her beliefs, but I had no idea she thought non-Christians didn't get eternal life. And I also thought she'd at least have the minimal amount of shame to not use her father's tragic passing as a platform to shame his friends in a way he never would have approved of. Even though the funeral was days ago, I'm still fuming about it. The worst part is, I have to invite all my parents' siblings to my 25th birthday party, including her, or else her drama will just multiply tenfold. I'm counting down the days until my partner and I have enough to move so I never have to interact with her again.
