My Mom died about 4.5 years ago. I had only just started going back to church after a hiatus of about 40 years. When she died my brothers asked if any of us would like a portion of mom’s ashes. Three of us did. I put them in a tiny urn in my home. Now after reading much about this, I feel guilty and wonder what I should do with them? Should I scatter them atop of her grave? I’m in my 60s and worry what would happen to them after I die. Please advise me, without admonishing me please. Thank you.
Scattering cremains
- Thread starter bfer
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Do not scatter them on her grave. Even with the very recent revision of Church discipline on this matter, scattering is still prohibited.
Go to your priest, explain the situation, and ask him what you should do. Chances are, he will tell you just to keep them reverently in your home, but I don’t want to anticipate too much of what he will tell you. As to what would happen to them when you die, ask him what to do about this as well.
Go to your priest, explain the situation, and ask him what you should do. Chances are, he will tell you just to keep them reverently in your home, but I don’t want to anticipate too much of what he will tell you. As to what would happen to them when you die, ask him what to do about this as well.
blackforest
Well-known member
Don’t worry - it gets confusing even for Catholics. Here is some good guidance - Vatican offers further guidance on handling cremains
Talk to your priest or call your local funeral home, preferably a Catholic one or one educated in Catholic burial practices. (Sometimes they advertise in church bulletins - check yours or that of a local Catholic church). These ashes can be placed in a permanent memorial with a plaque honoring your mother. God bless!
I was just thinking of the fact that there already is a grave, and while any cemetery director would be happy to sell you a columbarium niche in which to place the urn, there is a cost involved with that, probably not a small one.
Another option might be to approach the cemetery director, and ask if the urn could be interred separately in the grave space that already exists — not an exhumation of the ashes that are already in place, just interring them in a small separate “grave” on the same plot. I don’t know, I’m just guessing.
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