Over the past years, we have seen a significant increase in the number of people who choose cremation at the end of life. Without having to count, I can easily say that the vast majority of funerals that I have done have been cremations without the body even being present for the funeral. It seems that cremation has become accepted, even in the Church, as a new normal. However, every once and awhile someone raises the question with me: Is cremation okay? Or, they may ask if they need to bury the cremated remains of a loved one. I am so grateful for these questions. Especially since, particularly with death, we don’t think to ask questions that we may have, until someone has died. Then, our minds are in a cloud and haze, in state of shock and grief, and we feel the pressures of having to make decisions immediately.
In short, Canon Law, in canon 1176 says: The Church earnestly recommends that the pious custom of burying the bodies of the deceased be observed; nevertheless, the Church does not prohibit cremation unless it was chosen for reasons contrary to Christian doctrine. In other words, cremation is okay, but the Church discourages choosing to cremate when there is an option. Burying the body of the dead remains the highly favored practice. And it remains that if a person is cremated, his or her ashes are to be buried and returned to the earth.
Although we recognize that cremation does not prevent God from raising the body into eternal life, we still recognize the significance of burying the body. On a theological level, we continue to recognize that the body, even after death, is as important to who we are as our spirit. Without a human body or human spirit, we would not be human. The entire funeral Mass and Rite of Committal, is built around presenting and escorting the deceased into the church for the final time, and then to their resting place. If there were no value to the body of a dead person, then most of what we do at the funeral Mass would not make any sense.
On a practical human level, cremation greatly affects how we treat the dead and how we relate to them. It is disturbing, but on multiple occasions, I have witnessed the urn being forgotten and left behind after a funeral; I have seen a funeral home place an urn in a canvas bag used for groceries, then walk past the family. Even if we have not explicitly recognized it, instinctually, we recognize that something significant is lost when a body is cremated. With the promise of the resurrection, we know that our human dignity surpasses even death. And we are called to treat those who have died with the dignity of the promises that we received in Christ and they received, not only in baptism, but every time that they received the body of Christ in the Eucharist.