[cyborg]

It is the least preferred end of life ritual in the Catholic Church. It wasn't even part of the RCC till 1963. It is not the majority of Catholic burials.

[Beeline40@aol.com]

I respectfully disagree. I was recently at a funeral and I happened to speak to the priest about this. Also, we have a group meeting once a month and this subject has come up several times.

I was told, that more and more catholics are opting for this. Overall, burials are common but the majority of folks my age are opting for cremation while the older folks are opting for the traditional burial.

The breakdown comes from the fact that most younger folks do not attend church while the majority of older folks do. So when a younger catholic who does not attend church regularly dies, the preferred type of burial is cremation which if you count these types, it over takes the burial method.

I hope I did not confuse you. After writing this explaination, I confused myself. LOL :-)

[maryz]

It is not the majority of Catholic burials.

The parish I last lived in was understaffed and had its only daily Mass at 9:00, so they could fit funerals in at that Mass. I ended up going to a lot of funeral Masses. Only one had the urn with ashes instead of a coffin. And it was only too painfully obvious that none of the mourners had any idea what to do at a Catholic Mass. (Since there was no undertaker in front row setting an example.)