N
Nohome
Guest
A puzzle:
The person who makes it doesn’t use it.
The person who buys it doesn’t want it.
The person who uses it doesn’t know it.
Answer? A casket!
Nohome
- Status
The person who makes it doesn’t use it.
The person who buys it doesn’t want it.
The person who uses it doesn’t know it.
Answer? A casket!
Nohome
M
masondoggy
Guest
Yes, it is sad. It is very expensive to die these days.
V
vern_humphrey
Guest
Unfortunately the Kharisma of Infallibility does not extend to economics.
I suspect you’re right.
I know our Bishops are holy – if only they had common sense to go with it.
O
OriginalJS
Guest
A minimal amount of reading and observation is all it takes to see that Christian churches and organization of whatever persuasion are fixated on money. Church publications have extensive advertisements for programs and devices to raise money. Church bulletins sell advertising space, so you can read about the weekly Gospel reading on the first page and find out about the realtors, undertakers, and financial planners on the back. Congregations are constantly implored to contribute money more money. While more conservative churchmen may publicly condemn what I call the “prosperity gospel,” their demands for money are strident and incessant reminiscent of Robert Schuller and his Crystal Cathedral.
D
DL82
Guest
If the prohibition on cremation was lifted for purely pratical/economic reasons, why don’t Catholic Churches make their land available for this purpose?
In Europe up until the last 150 years, most people were buried in small local churchyards, in a shroud rather than a wooden coffin, with the grave temporarily marked by a wooden cross. Only the very rich had a tombstone. When the churchyard got full, they’d dig up the oldest grave, and put the bones into the Church ossuary, or bone store. I remember back in Scotland they excavated under one local church, which dated to the 12th century in its’ current building, and found such a room, still sealed, with hundreds of bodies arranged in 3 jumbled piles of long bones, piles of small bones and piles of skulls.
If the Church can accept that such random assortments of bones can be thrown into unidentified piles without questioning the resurrection, there’s no reason burning the body should be any different.
I guess it does prove a problem with saints or people who are unremarkable in life, but whose holiness is attested by their bodies being preserved incorrupt after death.
In Europe up until the last 150 years, most people were buried in small local churchyards, in a shroud rather than a wooden coffin, with the grave temporarily marked by a wooden cross. Only the very rich had a tombstone. When the churchyard got full, they’d dig up the oldest grave, and put the bones into the Church ossuary, or bone store. I remember back in Scotland they excavated under one local church, which dated to the 12th century in its’ current building, and found such a room, still sealed, with hundreds of bodies arranged in 3 jumbled piles of long bones, piles of small bones and piles of skulls.
If the Church can accept that such random assortments of bones can be thrown into unidentified piles without questioning the resurrection, there’s no reason burning the body should be any different.
I guess it does prove a problem with saints or people who are unremarkable in life, but whose holiness is attested by their bodies being preserved incorrupt after death.
D
Digitonomy
Guest
They do, through the erection of columbariums (columbaria?). Not that it necessarily proves the first part of your question.If you mean the Church should burn the bodies on church grounds, I don’t see the logic - in most cases the handling and preparation of the bodies is handled by outside groups with expertise in the field and the proper equipment - funeral homes, mortuaries, etc. The same should apply with cremation.
F
Franze
Guest
I prefer a burial, I don´t like the cremation, although the soul is inmortal and the soul would be resurrected in the last day, I am not happy with the cremation but the tendence is the cremation in almost all countries.
K
KathleenElsie
Guest
When my time comes I prefer to not leave my family with thousands of dollars in bill to bury me. Yes I have the money to pay for our last needs. But, we would rather have the money split between the church, charities and our grandchildren and not to support the funeral directors grandchildren.
$7000 vs $1000 is quite a difference just for the funeral part. $4000 vs $1000 for the remains to be interred respectfully is also quite a difference.
The total savings for my beneficiaries is $9000. Times this by two my husband and I and you get a whopping $18,000 to leave to the family, church etc.
K
Kristen
Guest
I have a couple of observations for those considering their final arrangements or those of their loved ones:
First, my folks have a “niche” for their cremains. Dad has been gone since 9/05. When he was diagnosed with terminal cancer earlier that year, my parents quickly made their arrangements. Now, having visited Dad’s niche a few times, I wish that I would have suggested burial, either of their ashes or of their bodies. The niche is about five feet above my head, part of a wall of hundreds of niches, so it is impossible to leave flowers, touch his name, etc. I just stand there craning my neck and attempting to pray for his soul, and I can’t leave any sign that anyone was their to honor his memory. If he had a plot, I could leave flowers or a flag, and maybe stay a few moments more for prayer. Mom lives in a nursing home and has great trouble with even short drives, so it hardly seems worth it to her or us to bring her to the cemetery.
Also, I have to say that it was a little odd to stand there when the cemetery staff placed the urn in the niche. It looked too ordinary, like putting canned food into the pantry or something. It is hard not to think of all the urns stacked behind the wall on little shelves!
Finally, even though we are young (34 and 29), DH and I helped see to Dad’s arrangements and have already talked about our wishes in general terms. DH does a lot of family history research and visits cemeteries to get relevant dates and honor the dead there. The more info on the stone, the happier he is! So, we’ve decided that to properly honor each other’s legacy and to leave a record for future generations (we have three kids and counting already!), we are going to be buried and pay the fortune it costs to have a big tombstone with lots of writing. I feel a lot better about that than about how we buried Dad.
Perhaps some things to consider, apart from simple Church teachings…
First, my folks have a “niche” for their cremains. Dad has been gone since 9/05. When he was diagnosed with terminal cancer earlier that year, my parents quickly made their arrangements. Now, having visited Dad’s niche a few times, I wish that I would have suggested burial, either of their ashes or of their bodies. The niche is about five feet above my head, part of a wall of hundreds of niches, so it is impossible to leave flowers, touch his name, etc. I just stand there craning my neck and attempting to pray for his soul, and I can’t leave any sign that anyone was their to honor his memory. If he had a plot, I could leave flowers or a flag, and maybe stay a few moments more for prayer. Mom lives in a nursing home and has great trouble with even short drives, so it hardly seems worth it to her or us to bring her to the cemetery.
Also, I have to say that it was a little odd to stand there when the cemetery staff placed the urn in the niche. It looked too ordinary, like putting canned food into the pantry or something. It is hard not to think of all the urns stacked behind the wall on little shelves!
Finally, even though we are young (34 and 29), DH and I helped see to Dad’s arrangements and have already talked about our wishes in general terms. DH does a lot of family history research and visits cemeteries to get relevant dates and honor the dead there. The more info on the stone, the happier he is! So, we’ve decided that to properly honor each other’s legacy and to leave a record for future generations (we have three kids and counting already!), we are going to be buried and pay the fortune it costs to have a big tombstone with lots of writing. I feel a lot better about that than about how we buried Dad.
Perhaps some things to consider, apart from simple Church teachings…
J
JKirkLVNV
Guest
One point:
The Church does not absolutely require that the body be present in a casket for the funeral mass. The Holy See has extended an indult allowing each local bishop to grant permission for the cremated remains, contained in an urn, to be present. So one can request of one’s bishop that he permit the presence of the cremains after an immediate cremation. I intend to ask for this.
I know too much about how a body is preserved to want to go through that (really, I should think that some of that qualifies as an “undignified” treatment of the body!) and my family lives far away from me. I think cremation is best and I’m glad we’re now allowed this as an option.
The Church does not absolutely require that the body be present in a casket for the funeral mass. The Holy See has extended an indult allowing each local bishop to grant permission for the cremated remains, contained in an urn, to be present. So one can request of one’s bishop that he permit the presence of the cremains after an immediate cremation. I intend to ask for this.
I know too much about how a body is preserved to want to go through that (really, I should think that some of that qualifies as an “undignified” treatment of the body!) and my family lives far away from me. I think cremation is best and I’m glad we’re now allowed this as an option.
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