Cremation

Within just the past few years cremation has become the preferred method of dealing with the remains of our loved ones.  Here at our own parish two out of three funerals include cremation.  This may come as a surprise to some who remember the Church’s ban on this practice. 

                      

Cremation was the common practice in the Roman Empire in the 1st and 2nd centuries A.D.  In contrast, Christians, remaining true to their Jewish roots, buried their dead in cemeteries, or underground caves we now call catacombs.  A special regard was attached to the bodies of those who died rather than deny their faith, the martyrs, and their burial sites became places of prayer.

As the Roman Empire declined and disappeared, so did the practice of cremation.  It wasn’t seen again until the Black Plague decimated large portions of the European population during the Middle Ages in the 14th century.

After that, cremation became popular again in Great Britain and Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  This occurred for a variety of reasons, including expense and lack of cemetery space.  There are on average 750 graves per acre in London.  Many churches appear to have sunk into the surrounding churchyard as bodies were commonly buried one atop another, century after century.

The Roman Catholic Church took a stand against this practice because many who desired cremation did so as a denial of the belief in the resurrection of the body.  The 1917 Code of Canon Law stated that one who was cremated could not have a church funeral.

As the practice of cremation became more common the Church’s attitude changed.  In 1963 the Vatican lifted the prohibition against cremation.  In 1983 the new revision of Canon Law allowed both cremation and burial as means of honoring the body of a deceased Catholic.

Today Catholics in the United States have three options for funeral with cremated remains.  Those options are, in preferential order:

·        A funeral with the body present, cremation following, and burial of the cremated remains

·        Burial of the cremated remains followed by Mass at the church

·        Or Cremation, followed by Mass and then burial of the remains. 

The cremated remains of our loved ones are treated with respect and dignity. Therefore our ashes are not to be scattered, or kept in the home of a relative or friend.  They are to be buried or entombed in a cemetery where they await the life to come, when their bodies and spirit will be united again.