I’ve given up on the Ask the Apologist forum. They answer the same few questions almost weekly and refuse to answer other questions. Why bother? Just put up a FAQs board and be done with it.
Anyway, the question I’ve asked a few times (and that was never answered) is about Catholic burial. Can a divorced and remarried Catholic be buried in a Catholic cemetary? If so, can the person share a grave with the new spouse?
I hope someone here knows the answer.
To further explain what Br Rich has said:
In general, any Catholic is entitled to be buried in a Catholic cemetery. As long as the deceased is Catholic, the question is not “who is allowed?” but “who is forbidden?”
The burden of proof lies with showing that the person should not be buried there–not the other way around.
I’ll quote the canon law at the end of my post here.
On the one hand, it is possible for a divorced-remaried Catholic to be buried in a Cath. cemetery–since it’s not outright forbidden.
The reason why your question can’t be answered with a simple yes or no has to do with a very subjective criteria: that of public scandal.
If (and I’m only saying if) allowing such a burial would seem to imply that the Church (or the local parish) is unconcerned about the divorced-remarried status of the person, or even endorses it, then such a burial should not be done. It is extremely unlikely that such a situation would arise (not impossible, only unlikely).
The real criteria is not so much the objective fact of divorced-remarried, but the subjective question of how that person behaved in life in-light of that status. Most D-R people accept the fact that the Church disapproves of their situation, and make sincere efforts to have that situation regularized–or at the very least they desire this. However, there are also a small few who flaunt this situation, making public statements that contradict Church teaching. Even here, such a burial would only be denied if it would cause public scandal. That scandal might be avoided simply by having a funeral attended by only family and close friends of the deceased (not “in secret” but simply not a large public display). Scandal might arise in a small town community, but not in a large city. Or scandal might arise if the deceased is buried in the parish cemetery, but not if the body is returned to the deceased place-of-birth (a distance away) for burial in a quiet, private ceremony. It’s very subjective.
Let’s say that the husband abandoned his wife and 4 children, and re-married, leaving them without any support. It might be scandalous were he to be buried in the parish cemetery because the entire community feels the pain of the wife/children. But if it was an amicable divorce and there’s no animosity between the parties, it might not be cause for scandal. Again, very very subjective.
As I said, there’s no simple yes or no answer to the question.
Your second question about who can be buried next to whom is not something which the Church addresses. Simply put, from the Church’s viewpoint this isn’t relevant. A person is simply buried in whatever plot was purchased during his lifetime, or by the family upon death. There might be some extreme situations when this would be inappropriate (maybe a murder-suicide being buried next to each other might be seen as an insult to the victim). But the Church has no laws or policy or anything else with regard to who can be buried next to whom.
Here’s the relevant section from canon law:
Can. 1183 §1. When it concerns funerals, catechumens must be counted among the Christian faithful.
§2. The local ordinary can permit children whom the parents intended to baptize but who died before baptism to be given ecclesiastical funerals.
§3. In the prudent judgment of the local ordinary, ecclesiastical funerals can be granted to baptized persons who are enrolled in a non-Catholic Church or ecclesial community unless their intention is evidently to the contrary and provided that their own minister is not available.
Can. 1184 §1. Unless they gave some signs of repentance before death, the following must be deprived of ecclesiastical funerals:
1/ notorious apostates, heretics, and schismatics;
2/ those who chose the cremation of their bodies for reasons contrary to Christian faith;
3/ other manifest sinners who cannot be granted ecclesiastical funerals without public scandal of the faithful.
§2. If any doubt occurs, the local ordinary is to be consulted, and his judgment must be followed.
Can. 1185 Any funeral Mass must also be denied a person who is excluded from ecclesiastical funerals.
vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P4C.HTM