Feature Articles
Cremation: Is it Permissible or Not?
The Church and Respect for the Dead
The Church and Respect for the Dead
Until 1963, church law specifically forbade the cremation of Catholics. Our identity and personhood are expressed through our bodies. It is in our bodily form that we receive the sacraments, and embrace others, and build up the world around us. So the body must be dealt with reverently.
The bodies of the deceased should be brought to church, and a mass of Christian Burial provided for them. Although cremation is now permitted by the church, it does not enjoy the same value as burial of the body. The church urges that the body be present for the funeral rites.
Cremation, if it is to take place, should ideally happen after the Funeral Mass. Sometimes there is a need to bend in order to respond to the needs of a grieving family. There could be reasons that make cremation practically necessary.
In some locales, there just aren’t places to bury people… or burial is a public health risk. Sometimes economic, geographic, or family factors make cremation the only feasible choice.
If cremation must take place, it ideally takes place after the body has been brought to church and the funeral rites have been celebrated. After that, the cremated remains are not to be scattered to the winds or placed in an urn on someone’s shelf. They should be buried in the ground, in an individual or mass grave, with a marker provided. Or they may be placed in a columbarium or mausoleum, and appropriately marked.
In conclusion, let me briefly say this: there is far too little respect for life and death these days. Families who seek to get a funeral "over with in the cheapest and least interested fashion possible, do an indignity to both the dead and the living. I realize there are times when cremation is the only choice. But when it comes to burying the dead, please be respectful.
The bodies of the deceased should be brought to church, and a mass of Christian Burial provided for them. Although cremation is now permitted by the church, it does not enjoy the same value as burial of the body. The church urges that the body be present for the funeral rites.
Cremation, if it is to take place, should ideally happen after the Funeral Mass. Sometimes there is a need to bend in order to respond to the needs of a grieving family. There could be reasons that make cremation practically necessary.
In some locales, there just aren’t places to bury people… or burial is a public health risk. Sometimes economic, geographic, or family factors make cremation the only feasible choice.
If cremation must take place, it ideally takes place after the body has been brought to church and the funeral rites have been celebrated. After that, the cremated remains are not to be scattered to the winds or placed in an urn on someone’s shelf. They should be buried in the ground, in an individual or mass grave, with a marker provided. Or they may be placed in a columbarium or mausoleum, and appropriately marked.
In conclusion, let me briefly say this: there is far too little respect for life and death these days. Families who seek to get a funeral "over with in the cheapest and least interested fashion possible, do an indignity to both the dead and the living. I realize there are times when cremation is the only choice. But when it comes to burying the dead, please be respectful.