CREMATION AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH...

I found an interesting article in today’s Detroit News titled: BURIAL PREFERRED OVER CREMATION ARCHBISHOP SAYS by Oralander Brand-Williams.

In the article, Archbishop Allen Vigneron of Detroit talks about his pastoral letter IN UNION WITH CHRIST’S DYING AND RISING that is on the archdiocese’s website and will be read in in all metro Detroit churches this Sunday.

Having been raised a strict Catholic in my youth, I was quite aware that cremation was banned by the Catholic Church and that the ban was based on the belief that after death, the soul of the deceased would be eventually reunited with his/her body (resurrected) when the final or last judgment took place.

Now, in reality, this did not make any sense to me even as a young boy since who in the hell would want to unite with a decomposed body; that made me think of the movie, Night Of The Living Dead as well as other Zombie movies, etc. but hey, who was I to argue with the people that were “in the know” about such things.

So you can imagine my surprise when I went to my cousin’s funeral mass (overdose) and discovered that he was cremated. The priest conducting the service took great pains in explaining that NOW the church allows cremations…what the hell changed???

The only thing that has changed is church policy which has shifted from no cremations allowed and to cremate is a crime/sin to cremations are allowed and this occurred to my surprise in 1963…why you may ask…because the church could no longer defend a stupid belief and that Catholics were cremating their loved ones because it was cheaper and to hell with the idea of the soul reuniting with the actual body decomposing in the ground.

My aunt was cremated in Florida and her ashes sent here where we had a Catholic service for her after which we interned her in a plot at the local cemetery.

In the article by the archbishop, cremation should occur AFTER the funeral mass which was not what happened with my relatives but I guess a funeral mass with only the ashes present is OK too.

My father-in-law was a Catholic and had the Last Rites performed but was cremated and a house service held with his ashes scattered in spots he favored during life.

I guess what interests me is how centuries of rigid belief can be so easily changed without giving us the theological basis for the change. This is the same way that the concept of a PURGATORY was simply dismissed after centuries of belief together with babies going to hell if they died before being baptized which my mother really believed since she planned on baptizing my children secretly; we had them baptized anyway just to satisfy her fear…which is no longer a valid fear?

Don’t get me wrong, I think change is good for the church but change also means that the church’s pronouncements on issues like contraception, priestly celibacy, women priests, etc. should be taken with a grain of salt since they eventually will change.

I think the real reason for the archbishop’s letter is the fact that many Catholics are cremating their loved ones and holding gatherings to celebrate the life of the deceased at home thereby by-passing a church funeral service. That trend is leaving the church and the religion out of funerary customs and that does not sit well with the church.

The one surprising thing about the archbishop’s letter is the fact that he does not COMMAND how funerals need to be conducted; just suggests…interesting?

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