Time was when Catholics simply didn’t do cremations, not least because it might complicate matters on the Day of Judgment, when the dead rise up bodily. Yet in countries such as Japan, cremation has long been accepted by the Church. We can rely on the omnipotence of God to reunite our atoms on the Last Day, no matter how our bodies were dealt with after death.
But the Church’s reluctant acceptance of cremations has not extended to some individualistic customs that characterise the Western way of death. Many people want their ashes to be scattered in their “happy place” after cremation, including windswept beaches where mourners may end up inhaling their relations’ remains.
The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) has now reinforced a previous pronouncement on the issue, <em>Ad resurgendum cum Christo</em>, which makes clear that ashes cannot be scattered, divided up or kept at home, but must be kept in a sacred place, approved by the Church, such as a cemetery. This is, says the DDF, so “that they are not excluded from the prayers… of the Christian community”. So, when Masses are said on All Souls’ Day at graveyards, they include those whose ashes are there. It will also ensure “sacred respect towards… the deceased”, though the Vatican allows for the placement of some ashes elsewhere, but only in sacred places. Thus it establishes continuity with the earlier customs of the Church, when the bodies of the saints might be widely dispersed.
This is a welcome clarification by the Vatican, which will help ensure the reverent treatment of our bodies in death. Parishes must now do their best to explain and uphold the teaching to bereaved families.
