Catholic Funerals: Elaborate or Simple?

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ByzantineHeart

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As Catholics, what exactly does the church teach about funerals if anything, other than the body or cremains should be respectfully buried?

Is it preferable to buy the cheapest casket rather than fork out more money on something nicer, which may or may not protect remains from the elements? And what of concrete liners and vaults–are they a waste of money, a good thing because they will protect the sacred body, or neither?

I’ve observed a painful difference between the local Catholic cemetery and the one for welfare burials nearby–the former is filled with ornate monuments, while the graves in the latter are marked with those temporary metal funeral home markers that have often become twisted and the letters fallen out.

It seems America in particular really has an obsession with protecting the body. I don’t know of any other countries other than Canada that utilize underground burial vaults, and it appears the quality of the coffin and grave stone often serves as a final indication of social status, which obviously means nothing to God.

If a family has no money and must resort to a “pauper” funeral for a loved one, is that something to be ashamed of? My family did this for a grandparent upon her death, and although the service was moving and beautiful I was so ashamed by the “cheap” casket.

I find it interesting that in the OT people were just placed right in the ground, and Orthodox Jews continue to stress that the body must be allowed to fully return to earth. Does the church really speak to this issue of how elaborate or expensive a funeral should be, or is it left to be an individual decision?
 
The cost of the casket is irrelevant. I had a friend who was an Oblate of St. Benedict and he was buried in a plain wooden casket that he had ordered years before his death. It served as a place that he put his favorite sacramentals on.

I have already told my children that I want them to buy the cheapest casket. We do not need to be concerned about protecting our body from the elements.
 
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought the whole concept of underground vaults was to avoid the “settling” that occurs over the years after decomposition of the body and casket which would result in a less than stable terrain in a cemetary. 🤷

In any case, there is no authoritative, specific guidelines that I am aware of. As with most things, we need to be good stewards of our resources. But we also need to show respect for the dead. I don’t think a “pauper’s funeral” is anything to be ashamed of. But I don’t think that we need to make it obligatory for everyone to be buried in cardboard boxes either.
 
Where I live, the state requires burial (even of cremains!) in a casket or urn PLUS a concrete vault. I live in a very hilly area and sometimes, after very heavy rains, caskets would slide down the hill and wind up exposed. So, our politicians (whom I suspect own concrete vault companies) declared that we must be buried with concrete.

As to caskets: my local funeral home will rent you one for $1000 during viewing ($500 if you object). My H and I are purchasing our plain models from monks in Iowa who make them. Concrete vault is something we can’t fight as long as we intend to be buried in this state.
 
I would like to donate my organs if possible and cadaver. That was my plan for some time, but a priest told me/us that it’s preferable not to, though, for religious reasons.

As a direct result of that, I decided to get a funeral plan that I pay into monthly. Then, I have since been reading online, and I have been tempted to go back to my idea of cadaver donation, because it seemed it was acceptable by the Catholic Church after all.

I don’t know how funerals work in a case like that.
 
As far as a funeral plan goes: you can choose as simple or elaborate as you’d like. For our part, my H and I will have 1 2-hour viewing session (if that’s what our kids want), Catholic funeral, and burial in a Catholic cemetery. For my own part, I would skip the viewing entirely but my H thought it important. Maybe we’ll view him for 2 hours, and skip that for me.

The cost of funerals is so very very expensive, many of my elderly neighbors are now opting to skip them entirely.

As far as organ donation goes, no one in my family , my H or my grown children, is an organ donor. We find it distasteful in the extreme - whether the Church permits it or not. We do not feel it selfish to be buried with our own livers or corneas or kidneys or lungs or other organs. Of course, we would not accept organs from others either so I don’t believe we are hypocritical in that regard.
 
ClearWater said:
I would like to donate my organs if possible and cadaver. That was my plan for some time, but a priest told me/us that it’s preferable not to, though, for religious reasons.

As a direct result of that, I decided to get a funeral plan that I pay into monthly. Then, I have since been reading online, and I have been tempted to go back to my idea of cadaver donation, because it seemed it was acceptable by the Catholic Church after all.

I don’t know how funerals work in a case like that.
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A memorial service would be held instead of a funeral.
 
It’s interesting that here in Italy, all the local villagers are buried at the municipal cemetery, which is a very beautiful place. Virtually everyone is above-ground, the marble vaults piled one of top of each other, or family vaults for those who can afford them.

In the UK, there aren’t that many Catholic cemeteries, but I have been able to buy a little plot for cremains at my church, which luckily has its own graveyard. There haven’t been any burials there for many years, but they were given permission to have a small area for cremains (only about 40 plots), which has been set out very nicely, with gravelled areas and statues.

The plot only cost about £160 and my husband and I will both have our cremains buried there. I thought I’d better get it sorted out, as once the plots are sold, there will definitely not be any more - there is no other available space there. I feel quite happy to know exactly where my mortal remains will be going. 🙂
 
Is a Viking funeral considered elaborate or simple? If Catholics were allowed them that’s what I’d want.
 
Yeah in the end I don’t think it matters and I highly doubt well know the difference. I have a plot, on the fence regarding cremation. I think some really make the funeral into a spectacle to show their socioeconomic status or whatever. I see that as wasteful. But some of the incorruptibles are housed in elaborate tombs so it can’t be bad in itself to spend money on a burial. I do wonder if one day there will simply be no space for burials. If I end up in a landfill so be it as long as my souls with God.
 
ByzantineHeart said:
Yeah in the end I don’t think it matters and I highly doubt well know the difference. I have a plot, on the fence regarding cremation. I think some really make the funeral into a spectacle to show their socioeconomic status or whatever. I see that as wasteful. But some of the incorruptibles are housed in elaborate tombs so it can’t be bad in itself to spend money on a burial. I do wonder if one day there will simply be no space for burials. If I end up in a landfill so be it as long as my souls with God.
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I agree with your thoughts!
 
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