I am glad that MSW was able to find comfort in the Mass.  
I find it sad that he found it necessary to belittle the efforts of the "very well-meaning people who tried to give voice to the deep sentiments [his] father's death occasioned" by characterizing them as "trite" or "sentimental".  
When my father died, I was comforted by the prayers of the Parastas, but got no comfort from the priest who delivered a ridiculous homily that only showed how little he knew my father.