The
Church’s Doctrine on Cremation
The
recent dedication of a sculpture on
Lackawanna County Courthouse Square
memorializing the late Jason Miller provides
an opportunity to explain the Catholic
Church’s doctrine on cremation. Media
accounts of the dedication noted that some
of Mr. Miller’s cremated remains had been
placed inside the sculpture. For this
reason, Scranton Bishop Emeritus James C.
Timlin offered a prayer for the repose of
Mr. Miller’s soul.
The
Catholic Church’s belief in the sacredness
of the human body and the resurrection of
the dead has traditionally found expression
in the care taken to prepare the bodies of
the deceased for burial. The Order of
Christian Funerals reflects a theology and a
tradition in which burial (interment or
entombment) of the body has been the
principal manner of the body’s final
disposition. The long-standing practice of
burying the body of the deceased in a grave
or tomb in imitation of the burial of
Jesus’ body continues to be encouraged as
a sign of Christian faith.
However,
the practice of cremation has become part of
Catholic practice in the
United States
and other parts of the Western world. The
Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of
the Faith has stated that “the practice of
burying the bodies of the faithful is by all
means to be kept,” but allowance was made
for cremation in cases of necessity as long
as it was not chosen as a sign of denial of
Christian teaching, especially that of the
resurrection of the dead and the immortality
of the soul.
Although
cremation is now permitted, it does not
enjoy the same value as burial of the body.
Catholic teaching continues to stress the
preference for burial or entombment of the
body of the deceased.
Nevertheless,
when cremation is used, the remains of
cremated bodies should be treated with the
same respect given to the corporeal remains
of a human body. This includes the manner in
which they are carried, the care and
attention to appropriate placement and
transport, and their final disposition.
The
cremated remains of a body should be
entombed in a mausoleum or columbarium; they
may also be buried in a common grave in a
cemetery. The practices of scattering
cremated remains on the sea, from the air or
on the ground, or keeping cremated remains
in the home of a relative or friend, are not
the reverent disposition that the Church
requires. This would include separating the
remains and placing them in different
locations, which apparently was done with
Mr. Miller’s cremated remains.
