Cremation and Mitigating Burial Costs

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However, all bodies will be resurrected on the last day. God can do all things, no matter what has happened to the remains of the body.
 
Thank you for the link Denise.

“Ideally, if a family chooses cremation, the cremation would take place at some time after the Funeral Mass, so that there can be an opportunity for the Vigil for the Deceased in the presence of the body (during “visitation” or “viewing” at a church or funeral home).”

Correct me if I am wrong (and other forum members as well), but waiting to do cremation AFTER the funeral Mass will be more expensive than having the cremation done FIRST, then the funeral Mass? It seems like the “ideal” of doing a burial and/or waiting do to cremation until AFTER the Funeral Masses are more expensive. Appreciate your thoughts on the matter.
 
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Scattering of ashes was never an option on the table as I know the church prohibits it, but thanks for the reminder.
 
ChurchSoldier said:
Should be, but often not. Doing so generally mitigates much of the cost savings, which is usually why people go with the cremation rather than burial.
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To be clear, you are saying that the cremation is done AFTER the funeral mass, then there is not a lot of cost savings as opposed to having cremation done BEFORE the funeral mass. Is this correct?
 
I knew that also, and many of my contemporaries did as well.

After reading this thread I became aware that there is a lot of confusion about what was permitted and what was not.
 
Dorothy said:
I knew that also, and many of my contemporaries did as well.

After reading this thread I became aware that there is a lot of confusion about what was permitted and what was not.
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And this is one of the reasons why I brought up the topic. 🙂
 
Irishmom2 said:
I personally don’t understand why people scatter cremains.
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First and foremost, because they don’t have to pay for a burial plot or niche that they probably can’t afford. You don’t even have to pay for an urn when you’re going to scatter - they will give you the cremains in some paper box or tube.

Also, some people like the idea of going back to a natural setting that they loved when alive, such as the ocean, a particular forest or park.

While I realize that the Church only permits cremains to be interred in a proper plot or columbarium, and does not permit people to either keep them in their homes or scatter them, I find the idea of scattering the ashes at sea or in a park or forest to be much nicer than keeping them in an urn in someone’s home. I’ve heard more stories about people who have their dead loved one in a container at home and then the ashes get lost in some fire, flood, tornado, eviction proceeding, etc. Or the person who’s keeping the ashes just dies and then whoever cleans out the house has to deal with the container of ashes on top of everything else.
 
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Yes, it’s permitted as long as the ashes are interred in a way the Church permits, usually by placing them in a niche of a blessed columbarium.
Keeping them in your house or in an urn elsewhere, scattering them, shooting them into space, making them into a piece of jewelry etc aren’t permitted.

As for how can God raise a body from cremains, God obviously can do all things and there are plenty of martyrs who were burnt and saints who had their bodies burnt or destroyed after death. The prohibition on cremation is meant to remind us that the body will be resurrected and to keep Christians in earlier eras from denying that teaching or following pagan burial customs. It’s not something we have to do so God can resurrect people.

The Church now allows cremation with proper interment of cremains largely because of issues of cost. It’s very expensive to bury a body and in some places there aren’t easily accessible graves. It’s much cheaper to cremate and purchase a columbarium niche.
 
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I think there’s a general concern about human bodies being lost or disrespected or thrown away etc. All of which does happen. A lot of cremains for example end up at thrift stores when someone dies and their heirs clean out the house including the cremains of some dead grandma or great aunt that no one remembers.
 
Tis_Bearself said:
The Church now allows cremation with proper interment of cremains largely because of issues of cost. It’s very expensive to bury a body and in some places there aren’t easily accessible graves. It’s much cheaper to cremate and purchase a columbarium niche.
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On the issue of cost, my local diocese states that “When the choice has been made to cremate a body, it is urged that the cremation take place after the Funeral Liturgy.” Ideally, I would like to choose this option, but the local funeral home wants about $4,500 to choose this option as opposed to spending $1,000 if direct cremation is done FIRST, then the Funeral Liturgy. How more “inferior” is it to choose cremation FIRST, then have a Funeral Liturgy done if it means saving $3,500?
 
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Speaking of embalming, is embalming required to just get the body present exclusively for the funeral rites?
 
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Yes, you wouldn’t want to go to a viewing or Mass when the body hasn’t been embalmed, unless it was pretty much immediate. I’ve dealt with service members remains coming home and the smell isn’t pretty.
 
WhatMeWorry said:
Your state law may require that the body be embalmed if there is a viewing.
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Found it. Californian law states that embalming is not required . However, a funeral establishment must refrigerate an unembalmed body in its possession within 24 hours if disposition by burial or cremation does not otherwise take place.
 
catholic47 said:
to meet the preferred burial method of the church even as I can technically “afford i
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Placing cremains the ground or in a columbarium are both perfectly acceptable to the Church.
catholic47 said:
then once I receive the remains back have a funeral Mass after I receive the ashes back in 7-10 days?
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I work for the Church, and have seen people wait weeks or months after cremation to have the Funeral Mass. When my husband died a few weeks ago, we waited a little over a week to allow family from out of town to travel in.

There is no time clock running.

My husband 's cremains will not be interred until sometime next year, again, due to travel arrangements back to his home town.
 
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A couple of years ago, our car was stolen from our carport.

The car was later recovered, wrecked after a high speed chase with police.

When we went to the impound lot to see if there was anything we wanted to recover from the car, we opened the trunk and there was a box of human cremains. The tag was on the box, identifying the name of the man who had died back in the '80s.

The criminals who stole the car had been on a crime spree that included burglaries. The police (to whom we took the cremains) speculated that the criminals had burgled a house, this box was heavy so they thought it might contain something of value, so they stole it. This man’s remains ended up in the high speed chase, and would have ended up in a car crusher had we not checked the trunk. In my eyes, that was a lasting lesson about why we don’t keep grandpa on the mantle.
 
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