The only thing I disagree with about Catholicism

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I wasn’t raised catholic. I became Christian when I was 12 then converted to Catholicism when I was about 22. I am all about what Catholicism stands for and all the doctrines. I just don’t understand why you can’t get cremated. I feel like it’s such a waste of money to have to be in a cemetery and have a gravestone. To add, why does it matter what happens to your body after you die because your soul is all that matters in the end? I just really don’t want my family to waste money on me when I’m dead and I don’t want my body to be pointlessly sitting in the ground for years. Can anyone help me change my mind or explain why this is part of Catholicism?
 
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You can get cremated. You never used to be able to. You are however meant to keep the ashes in one place :inter them so people can visit and pay respects /pray for them. So for example you aren’t meant to have them made into Jewelry or scatter than etc as that is not paying respect to their body.
 
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Delia_button said:
I wasn’t raised catholic. I became Christian when I was 12 then converted to Catholicism when I was about 22. I am all about what Catholicism stands for and all the doctrines. I just don’t understand why you can’t get cremated. I feel like it’s such a waste of money to have to be in a cemetery and have a gravestone. To add, why does it matter what happens to your body after you die because your soul is all that matters in the end? I just really don’t want my family to waste money on me when I’m dead and I don’t want my body to be pointlessly sitting in the ground for years. Can anyone help me change my mind or explain why this is part of Catholicism?
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Cremation is allowed.

The Church teaching:

CCC 2301 Autopsies can be morally permitted for legal inquests or scientific research. The free gift of organs after death is legitimate and can be meritorious.

The Church permits cremation, provided that it does not demonstrate a denial of faith in the resurrection of the body.
 
The answers you’re receiving should set your mind at ease, but don’t take what you read here as Gospel. 😇 Your diocese website likely has the correct current Catholic guidelines regarding cremation. If it doesn’t, email or write the Bishop’s office, asking that they post the pertinent information.

Also, Google: vatican cremation

You’ll find several articles from different sources, both Catholic and secular. Read as many as you wish, but be sure to read the one that comes straight from vatican.va.com, effective August 15, 2016.

It will save all the branches of your family a lot of grief if you all discuss what you learn and if you individually make advance plans so that those left behind after a family death are spared some of the truly tough decisions that must be made.
 
From the current Code of Canon Law:
Canon 1176 §3 The Church earnestly recommends that the pious custom of burial be retained; but it does not forbid cremation, unless this is chosen for reasons which are contrary to christian teaching. (source)
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You are allowed to be buried in a linen sheet and nothing else. Saves thousands. Its completely legal in most Western counties.

Cept New Orleans they have a corpse rising problem.
 
As you have seen cremation is not forbidden and in places like the UK it’s a much more sensible option as it’s an island nation with limited burial space.
 
Cremation is fine, but…
Delia_button said:
… why does it matter what happens to your body after you die because your soul is all that matters in the end?
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… the above is wrong.

We care what happens to the body because God made us to be body and soul united. At death we are in an unnatural state until the general resurrection when both the blessed and the damned will be reunited with our bodies.

Also, while the Church does allow one to be cremated, the cremains must be interred in a graveyard or columbarium. In my diocese we will not offer the Rite of Christian burial for deceased that are cremated unless the relative state that the cremains will be properly interred (e.g. not scattered or kept at relatives homes).
 
What was the reasoning why for the longest time the Church forbade cremation?
 
Delia_button said:
To add, why does it matter what happens to your body after you die because your soul is all that matters in the end? I
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As others have said, cremation is allowed. However, be careful with this thinking,. We are created body and soul. In the end, ie after the resurrection, not just the soul matters.
 
True, but be careful not to say that because someone is cremated, they will not be resurrected. The powers of God are infinite, even if the ashes are scattered (I’m not saying they should be), God will still resurrect the bodies by whatever manner He wishes.
 
I believe it was because some were using cremation as a way to show they denied the belief of the resurrection of the body.
 
I made my first statement clear to avoid any misunderstanding and I carefully quoted only the phrase of the OP that was problematic, careful to leave creamation out if it.

So I tried to be careful, sorry if it did not meet your standards.
 
I didn’t at all mean it in a negative way. I apologize if it did.

I was just recalling a conversation that I had with someone who was talking about how people couldn’t be cremated because then they couldn’t be resurrected, and the post I directed at you was a result of me thinking of that conversation as I wrote it.

Nothing against you. 😊
 
Idk, but i think u can do a green burial.? Meaning, pay for a plot, ,…just lay u in a shroud, after fridgerating you, no coffin. Unless the church is specifically ,I’m going that
 
Here’s some excerpts from Shown to Be Holy (I’ll explain why in a bit):

"In this mystery [Holy Baptism - M], by God’s design and the power of the Holy Spirit, we are grafted onto Christ… Because of this union we are carried along with Christ, as it were, in His relationship with the Father. We die to sin with Adam and are raised again with Him (the very rites of baptism are meant to represent this). We receive the anointing with the Holy Spirit which He received and have that Spirit dwelling in us as it dwells in Him. His physical body and blood are mystically joined to ours in the Eucharist so that our entire nature may enter upon a journey of transfiguration: one which will only be completed in eternity… (Emphasis added)

Our likeness to the Holy One through baptism now makes us holy. And like the many “holy things” employed in the Church, such as holy water, oils, vessels, icons or vestments, we have been set aside to serve a new purpose. As the entire human race was intended to be, we have been set apart to reflect the Holy One in creation.

The way we use the holy things mentioned above reflects their special purpose. We do not use the chalice for ordinary drinks or the holy table for a buffet. In the same way our human nature, once made holy in baptism, is to be used only in an appropriate way… “You must know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is within you: the Spirit you have received from God. You are not your own. You have been purchased, and at a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Cor. 6:19-20). That which is holy must be used for righteousness’ sake."

Source: Shown to Be Holy. 1990, McKees Rocks: God With Us Publications, p. 9, 11-12.

Because my body is consecrated to God, I have to use it properly. The same applies to the deceased. Their bodies must be treated with reverence.

My mom passed away shortly before Thanksgiving. I picked her nice blue dress to bury her in. We had a closed casket viewing (out of consideration for my nephew who’s very young) and an open casket funeral. Father solemnly sealed “this casket until the second coming of Christ + in the Name of the Father, +and of the Son, +and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

For me, it was easier to say goodbye to my mom with an open casket. I got to see her one last time. I don’t think I would have felt the same way if she had been cremated.
 
Mhkc said:
Idk, but i think u can do a green burial.? Meaning, pay for a plot, ,…just lay u in a shroud, after fridgerating you, no coffin.
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That depends on where you are buried. The Church makes no preference for coffins, but most cemeteries require burial vaults/grave liners, regardless of what a person is buried in. This is to keep the ground from subsiding after the casket and remains begin to breakdown.
 
Yeah, in all probability, I’m about half way there.44.5 years old…I might see 100… that said, I do holdfast just how increasingky gripping my faith, and hope are in Christ and HIS aliveness. I just glad I periodically returned back to my cradle Catholicism roots, and am on the path.

As Fulton Sheen writes “black grace” is a gift…meaning a good dose of the absence of the one true God in ones soul. That’s what will go down in the annals of history and my life testimony at judgement. The 2019 year was about as far away from God I ever got. I can not forget any detail. It sticks like a sharp broken poisoned infected glass bottle seathing in my guts.

I had the first feeling in a long long long long time…that God actually has some love for me. It’s been really really really hard. I don’t know why God chose me. I’m scared God will remove himself.

I really really really scared GOD WILL remove himself from me
 
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