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There has been much coverage in the media lately about the Vatican issuing "new" rules concerning funeral practices -- especially concerning how the cremated remains of loved ones are to be treated.

The document, "Ad Resurgendum cum Christo" ("To Rise with Christ"), approved by Pope Francis, was issued ahead of All Souls' Day (Nov. 2) and the month of November, when we remember, in a special way, all our faithful departed.

In many ways, the document is not new at all, but simply clarifies matters in response to the increase in cremations in many parts of the world and addresses pastoral situations and questions.

As the instruction states, the document underlines "doctrinal and pastoral reasons for the preference of the burial of the remains of the faithful and [aims] to set out norms pertaining to the conservation of ashes in the case of cremation."

In 1963, permission was granted for Catholics to be cremated, provided that it was not to show rejection of Catholic belief in the resurrection of the body. The recent instruction repeats this, and takes into account the provisions and rites on cremation that have been part of our Order of Christian Funerals for years and, to some degree, are also in canon law.

The instruction makes clear that cremation "does not affect [one's] soul, nor does it prevent God, in His omnipotence, from raising up the deceased body to new life. Thus, cremation, in and of itself, objectively negates neither the Christian doctrine of the soul's immortality nor that of the resurrection of the body."

It clarifies how cremated remains are to be interred. The Church has always stressed that the remains should be treated with reverence and should be interred: "Following the most ancient Christian tradition, the Church insistently recommends that the bodies of the deceased be buried in cemeteries or other sacred places. In memory of the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord, the mystery that illumines the Christian meaning of death, burial is above all the most fitting way to express faith and hope in the resurrection of the body."

In our funeral rites, for example, the cremated remains of a loved one should be treated with the same respect and reverence as a body placed in a casket: Those remains should be buried.

The document also gives a useful and timely reminder about our faith, as Catholic Christians, in the resurrection, but also our understanding of the human person as both soul and body. It emphasizes our calling, purpose and destiny.

"By burying the bodies of the faithful, the Church confirms her faith in the resurrection of the body, and intends to show the great dignity of the human body as an integral part of the human person whose body forms part of their identity. She cannot, therefore, condone attitudes or permit rites that involve erroneous ideas about death, such as considering death as the definitive annihilation of the person, or the moment of fusion with Mother Nature or the universe, or as a stage in the cycle of regeneration, or as the definitive liberation from the 'prison' of the body."

The instruction makes the point that the burial of our dead, whether they have been cremated or in placed in a casket, can be part of the grieving process and can strengthen our memory and ties with those who have gone before us. Further, it can remind us of our shared faith and our shared experience of loss.

"The burial of the faithful departed in cemeteries or other sacred places encourages family members and the whole Christian community to pray for and remember the dead, while at the same time fostering the veneration of martyrs and saints. Through the practice of burying the dead in cemeteries, in churches or their environs, Christian tradition has upheld the relationship between the living and the dead and has opposed any tendency to minimize, or relegate to the purely private sphere, the event of death and the meaning it has for Christians."

Having laid out an understanding of our faith and reflected on the nature of grieving and remembering, the instruction applies this to two situations: keeping ashes at home and scattering ashes. For all the reasons mentioned above, the instruction concludes that keeping the ashes of a deceased loved one at home or scattering ashes can't be permitted.

"Only in grave and exceptional cases dependent on cultural conditions of a localized nature may the Ordinary...concede permission for the conservation of the ashes of the departed in a domestic residence," it notes. "The ashes may not be divided among various family members and due respect must be maintained regarding the circumstances of such a conservation.

"In order that every appearance of pantheism, naturalism or nihilism be avoided, it is not permitted to scatter the ashes of the faithful departed in the air, on land, at sea or in some other way, nor may they be preserved in mementos, pieces of jewelry or other objects. These courses of action cannot be legitimized by an appeal to the sanitary, social or economic motives that may have occasioned the choice of cremation."

(Father Barratt is director of the diocesan Office of Prayer and Worship and pastor of St. Ambrose parish in Latham. He holds a doctorate in theology and was a professor at St. John's Seminary in England before coming to the U.S. in 2004. Read other columns at www.evangelist.org. For more information on Catholic cemeteries, visit www.capitaldistrict­cemeteries.org.)[[In-content Ad]]

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