Expert: George A. Card,sfo, M.I - 5/24/2004

Question
A friend of mine lost her father-in-law.  He was Catholic and wanted to be cremated.  My Catholic wife states that the Church does not believe in cremation.

My friend is asking me for help with this.  Can you clarify the Church's view on this issue.

Thanks,
Paul

Answer
                        Peace


Dear Paul--
  The Catholic Church teaching on cremation is contained in the Code of Canon Law (#1176). It reads: "The Church earnestly recommends that the pious custom of burying the bodies of the dead be observed; it does not, however, forbid cremation unless it has been chosen for reasons which are contrary to Christian teaching."

There was a long standing tradition in Judaism of never burning the bodies of the dead, and Christianity continued the Jewish practice of burial or entombment of the deceased, following the example of Jesus himself. During the persecutions of the Church in the early centuries, pagans would sometimes attempt to burn the bodies of the martyred Christians in an effort to ridicule Christian belief in the resurrection. Later, during the rise of materialism in the 19th century, many atheistic groups began to promote cremation, again as a challenge to, and a public denial of, the Christian faith. These instances of using cremation as some kind of public profession of irreligion are examples of what the Church means by 'reasons which are contrary to Christian teaching', and are what led to a specific prohibition on cremation in 1886. This prohibition was subsequently removed, with conditions, by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith in 1963.

Both the Canadian and American Catholic Bishops' Conferences have issued guidelines on cremation in which they urge that cremated remains be put into a worthy container and buried in a grave or entombed in a mausoleum. "Scattering cremated remains on the sea, in the air, on the ground," write the bishops, "or keeping them in the homes of relatives, does not display appropriate reverence." Here the bishops are urging respect for the body as a Temple of the Holy Spirit, the "body once washed in Baptism, anointed with the oil of salvation, and fed with the Bread of Life.


          Be At Peace,
   Your servant but His First
          george "rav" card, sfo, M.I.