My wife's aunt was cremated and buried in a Catholic service. She was in D.C. at the time, and died of breast cancer. The cremation was so she could be buried in South Dakota and not have her kids pay the transport costs.
I thought that was kind of odd myself. My pastor has at times denied burial to people who have been cremated for wrong reasons, but those cases are few and far between.
Speaking in Irish Catholic terms, it used to be the "wake" was in the house. And the body buried in the Catholic cemetery after the funeral. Hence, no absurdly extreme costs. A simple pine box is fine. Does anyone really need Ivory casket handles after they are gone?
I have mixed feelings about this case and article. Not enough details here to know the whole story. In the old days, suicides were denied burial. THAT is no longer the case. Everyone is offered forgiveness. Unless there is a very good and compelling reason, death is not the time to make some sort of political statement bearing on moral controversies.
If she had made a sincere death-bed Confession, etc. On the other hand, it might serve as a warning to others leading lives outside of consecrated Matrimony. But so would a stern sermon at a funeral or memorial Mass.
At any rate, contrary to popular superstition, the decisions and opinions of a mere priest, of whatever standing and orientation, do not control the pearly gates.
Just a foonote: the famous American ex-Catholic writer F. Scott Fitzgerald could not be buried with full honors due to his lapsed status. His body supposedly lies adjacent to consecrated ground in St. Mary's Cemetery in Rockville, Maryland, just outside of Washington, DC.