i have been wondering same thing myself. thanks for post
I don’t care if they grind me up for fish food when I’m dead. I’ve often mentioned that they can throw me in the ditch at the end of the field where we throw all our dead animals. My only request was that they not throw me at the same location in the ditch that we throw the dead cats! Never did like cats!
Before cremation the person should be mostly dead.
My kids Dad is scattered at the Continental Divide so he will eventually be everywhere!
With the exception of circumstances like Japan, where cremation is required by law and the practice is grudgingly tolerated by the Church as a result, the canons of the Orthodox Church forbid the cremation of Christians.
The reason for the canon is that sound Christian anthropology regards the human person as a unity of body and soul, the unnatural death, occasioned by the Fall being the separation of that unity. The body is still the person as much as the soul — remember Christ said “I am the Resurrection” not “I am the transmigration of souls”. While God is quite able to raise us from the smoke and ashes of our bodies should we die in a fire or be cremated in violation of the canons, to willingly destroy the body with fire is a form of contempt for the doctrine of the Resurrection and an affront to the person. In the case of a saint, it deprives the Church of relics, through which God has often chosen to work miracles.
The Scriptures do not explicitly discuss cremation one way or the other, but the burial rites required under the Old Covenant law forbid it implicitly.
I have a terminal rare lung disease, and have bee tying to decide just what I want done with my remains. My husband is buried in a national cemetery, and I can be as well. I don't have life insurance so it is a money issue with me.
My husband has a conventional burial. Does anyone know if I was to be cremated would the urn be placed in his grave as a casket would be? His name is on the front and mine would e on the back of the military headstone.
This appears to be an appropriate thread to share my friend Lou’s actual obituary as it was in our local newspaper. Lou was a retired professor at Bucknell University and had quite a sense of humor. Having had a tracheotomy from all his years of smoking, he went down hill fast. I saw him a few hours before he died, as he walked away from the counter in my store. He was unable to communicate, he walked away ten steps, turned, smiled and held his hands up as he shrugged his shoulders in a gesture of “I give up” and went home and died. But not before writing his own obituary. Here it is..exactly as it was published (it was also read by Click & Clack on Car Talk) His antagonistic sense of humor is obvious, even when facing death.
LEWISBURG - Louis J. Casimir Jr. bought the farm Thursday, Feb. 5, 2004, having lived more than twice as long as he had expected and probably three or four times as long as he deserved.
Although he was born into an impecunious family, in a backward and benighted part of the country at the beginning of the Great Depression, he never in his life suffered any real hardships.
Many of his childhood friends who weren’t killed or maimed in various wars became petty criminals, prostitutes, and/or Republicans.
He survived three years overseas in an infantry regiment in excellent health, then university for four years on the GI bill, and never thereafter had to do an honest day’s work.
He was loved by good women, had loyal friends, and all his children were healthy, handsome and bright.
For more than six decades, he smoked, drank and ate lots of animal fat, but never had a serious illness or injury.
His last wish was that everyone could be as lucky as he had been, even through his demise was probably iatrogenic.
He was preceded in death by his wife of 43 years, Judy.
He is survived by his brother Jack of Houston, Texas; and his children, Randall Kent of Brunswick, Ga., Louis John III (Trey) of Lewisburg, Thomas Bettis of Lewisburg and Edith Austin Wheat of Austin, Texas.
Lou was a daredevil: his last words were “Watch this!”
A memorial service and barbecue will be held on Labor Day at Lou’s place.
Donations may be made in Lou’s memory to the Union County Public Library, 205 Reitz Blvd., Lewisburg, PA 17837.
Funeral arrangements were by Shaw Funeral Home, Milton.
Editor’s note: This obituary was provided by the family.
Excellant material.
“CREMATION OR BURIAL?”
http://executableoutlines.com/top/cremate.htm
My only problem with cremation is what to do with the ashes. Not a week goes by that we don’t read of some urn with Aunt Mary’s ashes accidently ending up at the Goodwil Donation Station.
Or worse.
Cremation - IMO - is a desecration of the body.
I am reply to the first post since I don’t want to single anyone out but I do hope that this is read by those that would benefit from it.
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As a lifelong Catholic I continue to be amazed and saddened by the hatred that is expressed by our protestant brothers on this forum. I grew up in the 60’s and was never taught to hate people from other religions and am amazed that the same apparently did not hold true for other Christian faiths. In fact I never experienced such hatred in person which leads me to believe that many of the things said here would never be said directly to a Catholic’s face. How very sad.
If your anger is because someone in the Catholic Church hurt you, let me be the first to apologize. People and institutions are not perfect and God knows the Catholic Church, and people acting on Her behalf, have made many mistakes over the years. For those harmed in such a way, I pray that God brings a Catholic into your life that can show you that true Catholics and the true Church doctrine is not as evil as you must believe it is (to express such hatred) and that you might once again return to the Church.
If your anger is not due to personal experience but rather biased teachings all I can ask is why? What is your purpose in expressing such hatred? Are you trying to convert us to your way of thinking? Such vitriol is never effective. I might understand you taking such strong positions if you were speaking out about current failings of the Church. In that case, I would be right there with you. We need to shine light on any evil practices to preserve the Church for future generations. In my studies of the faith I have yet to see a ‘bad’ Church teaching that was not eventually corrected. Likewise, evil actions taken by those within the Church (such as the pedophile priests) have always been denounced – perhaps not as quickly as they should but we are moving in the correct direction.
But it is not current practices that you are spewing hatred for on this thread. You have been presented with the current teachings on cremation and why the Church objected in the past. You might believe that there were other reasons for the past positions but what does that matter? In fact, if you are not a Catholic, what do even the current teachings matter? If you disagree so be it. That is why you are not Catholic. What is it to you that we Catholics might believe differently? If believe that some crime is being committed by all means please expose it. If it is just a difference in belief do you really need to be so argumentative?
As Christians we have many things in common. I might remind you that even your forefathers were Catholics for the first 1,500 years after Christ’s birth. I have studied the differences and am comfortable with my choice to be a Catholic. I trust you have done the same. I won’t try to convince you of the righteousness of my belief unless you express an interest in discussing them. Is it too much to ask to be shown the same level of respect?
In any case, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year!
WHAT ARE THE REASONS FOR THE CONDEMNATION OF
CREMATION BY THE CATHOLIC CHURCH?
1. The first reason comes from the particular circumstance which made cremation having been newly promoted by Freemasonry. Because of this fact, cremation becomes a public profession of irreligion and materialism. But it is important to understand that it is not the most important reason. The Catholic Church does not condemn cremation only because Freemasonry promotes it.
2. The Holy Catholic Church condemns cremation because it is a barbarous custom opposed to the respect and piety that one must have for our dead, even on the natural level. And in the eyes of faith, by burial, the body laid under the earth where it will wait for its resurrection. St. John Chrysostom says that the cemeteries are as dormitories where the dead are waiting for the day of resurrection. Only exceptional reasons (as in epidemic or war, etc.) can obliged for the burning of the bodies
3. Conciliar modernism and the doctrine of the Catholic Church
In the new Canon Law promulgated in 1983 (n. 1176 paragraph 3), the actual authorities of the Church do not forbid anymore cremation “unless it was chosen because of reasons opposite to the Catholic doctrine” (for example, denial of the dogma of the resurrection of the bodies).
But isn’t it in fact a great help given to all these associations for cremation founded all over the world now to spread this practice? These associations are inspired by Freemasonry which is now spreading cremation to fight the Catholic Church and its beliefs.
Even if the new Canon Law continues to deeply recommend the burial of the bodies, its new politics of no-condemnation favors once again the action of the enemies of the Church who, by their diabolical hatred of the creation of God, kill the fetus by abortion, the sick and the old people by euthanasia, and savagely destroy the bodies of the dead by cremation.
One can also add that cremation endangers the practice of the veneration of relics.
4. Practical Conclusion
In the churches and chapels of the Society of St. Pius X, as we teach the traditional doctrine of the Catholic Church, we also keep its traditional practices.
Therefore, we continue to follow the teaching of the traditional Canon Law of 1917, which expresses the constant thought of the holy Catholic Church: S The bodies of the dead must be buried - cremation is forbidden. S Ecclesiastical burial will be denied to those who asked for the cremation of their bodies.
Let us honor our dead by burying their bodies with respect in a cemetery, and taking care of their souls by Masses, prayers and sacrifices.
N. B.
What is said about the bodies must be applied to the members of the body (if cut by surgery for example) or to the dead fetus: they must be buried and not incinerated.