That’s the question.
Doing my Last Will and Testament, and cremation seems to be a Green
way to go.
Sure. Remember Joan of Arc?
Seriously, I’ve never heard of there being any kind of prohibition against it. If there were, you, as a Catholic, probably would have heard of it by now. Though I can tell you that when my father died a couple of weeks ago, his very Catholic brother and sister-in-law threw a fit when I suggested cremation. They felt it was disrespectful and said that I would never do that to a family member I cared about (my father and I hadn’t spoken in about ten years), but I think they were just basing that on their own notions about cremation, not on the Church’s position on it (if the Church even has one).
I plan to be cremated myself (I’m not Catholic, or even religious). Not just because it’s a green way to go, as you say, but also because the thought of decomposing in the ground is just way too disturbing for me.
Sure, who doesn’t like barbeque?
http://www.icctampa.org/FuneralRites.htm
YOu can do it, but ix-nay on the attering-skay.
Yes, but only if it doesn’t mean you don’t believe in the resurrection of the body. And bury the cremains in consecrated ground.
A few of my Catholic relatives ashes’ are interred at a mausoleum. Most of the still-religious members of my extended family plan to take the burn as well. I think it’s okay.
It’s allowed - but the timing should be discussed with the priest who is expected to officiate at the funeral, first. Some priests insist on having an actual body at the church (with the cremation to occur later). Others are more flexible. I don’t think you’d have trouble having a funeral itself but IIRC it wouldn’t be a full-fledged mass if the priest were insistent on an intact body but you’d had the cremation already.
My mother wished to be cremated. When the parish priest visited her at the hospital near the end, we specifically asked him about this. He was pretty mellow.
Of course, this same priest was pretty mellow about Mom’s wish to have some of her ashes scattered at a place she loved to visit. He said “Just don’t tell me about it”. So we told the funeral home, and just before the funeral the fellow from the funeral home gave me a little plastic vial which sat in my purse during the Mass.
I attend mass at a pretty large parish (Catholic) in the Detroit suburbs. A year ago, our pastor died. They did a wake, with the body int he casket and all, and then, per his request, he was cremated. If the priests can get cremated, I have to imagine that the parishoners can, too.
As others have mentioned, scattering the ashes is frowned upon, but interring them in a mausoleum or burying them is fine.
Is there a reason why you couldn’t ask your parish priest this?
Which is why Kalhoun posted her link.
My belated thanks to you Kalhoun and to all of you, as well.
Had the same question when I did my will. Yes as long as the remains are interred.
(My kids and I had a great time picking the type of “turd” mom should be buried “in”. Guess you had to be there.)
It definately does, otherwise the mausoleum that my home parish has is a big mistake. My dad and stepmom already have a double drawer reserved in it, which is a little creepy considering I walk by it every time I enter the church. As far as resurection of the body goes, the generally accepted theory of the RCC is that with God, all things are possible. There are references in the Bible to Jesus not looking the same after he rose from the dead, so significant number Catholics believe that the physical body you inhabit on while alive might not be as important as once thought.
With that logic, I’m not sure why scattering ashes is so frowned upon, but nobody ever claimed the RCC was totally logical.
A relative of mine was a Catholic priest. He was a VERY CONSERVATIVE Catholic priest. He was cremated according to his wishes.
Without being able to quote Catholic doctrine I’m sure that my relative would not have requested cremation if it was in any way contradictory to Catholicism. I don’t think that allowing cremation is a Vatican II type accomodation. He was too conservative to be influenced by that.
Anecdotal, yes. Definitive, no. Take it FWIW.
It is probably the last vestige of the situation that resulted in Catholics being prohibited from being cremated (a rule the was only reveresed in the 20th century). There have been several groups of people who used cremation as a direct act of rejection of the teaching of the resurrection of the body. They would burn the body, then scatter the ashes to show they did not believe God could gather it all up and put it back together if He chose. The church, which is very much aware of ritual and symbolism, forbade the actions that might be construed as supporting that action and its attendant belief. As European cemetaries filled up in the 19th and 20th centuries, and as the likelihood that anyone was going to use cremation as a deliberate flouting of belief in the resurrection faded, the rules on cremation were relaxed, but the rules regarding spreading the ashes have not been.
Interesting. I always thought that cremation was discouraged because it was associated with paganism – viking funeral pyres and druidic “wicker man” sacrifices and things like that.