Scottish Catholic Observer

Cremated remains of Catholics cannot be scattered, divided up or kept at home, but must be stored in a sacred, Church approved place, the Vatican has said.

The new instructions were released on Tuesday by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and reaffirm the Church’s preference for burial, but lay out guidelines on conserving ashes for the increasing numbers of Catholics who choose cremation.

One Scottish priest, who used to be a funeral director, said the instruction was a warning against the trend towards ‘consumer choice’ that has lead to human remains being turned into ‘ornaments, fireworks and teddy bears.’

The Vatican said the new instructions are being issued to counter what it called ‘new ideas contrary to the Church’s faith,’ including New Age ideas that death is a ‘fusion’ with Mother Nature and the universe, or the ‘definitive liberation’ from the prison of the body.

The Vatican said ashes and bone fragments cannot be kept at home, since that would deprive the Christian community as a whole from remembering the dead. Rather, Church authorities should designate a sacred place, such as a cemetery or church area, to hold them.

The document said remains couldn’t be divided among family members or put in lockets or other mementoes. Nor can the ashes be scattered in the air, land or sea since doing so would give the appearance of ‘pantheism, naturalism or nihilism,’ the guidelines said. Only in extraordinary cases can a bishop allow ashes to be kept at home, it added.

Scottish reaction

Fr Kevin Dow, parish priest of Ss John and Columba’s Rosyth and St Peter in Chains, Inverkeithing, who was previously a funeral service manager with his family business in West Fife and Kinross-shire, said the instruction was a useful reminder ‘of what our beliefs as Catholics actually are.’

Fr Dow said the document had been issued to ‘to remind the faithful and their pastors of our belief in the resurrection of the body and how we should be preparing ourselves and our loved ones for death.’

“The only new statements that I can see from reading the instruction deals with some of the latest trends of using the cremated remains to make items of jewelry, and also that the division of the cremated remains amongst

family members is not permitted,” he said. “The instruction is clear: if you wish to be cremated it must not be for any anti-religious reason and that the cremated remains—ashes—be given a proper burial.”

Fireworks

Fr Dow went on to say that in the past decade ‘companies have been looking at what new things can be used in the funeral industry.’

“There are now many and varied things you can do with cremated remains such as making them into jewellery, ornaments, fireworks, teddy bears or getting decorative cardboard tubes to enable splitting them up amongst family members,” he said.

“The Church has recognised that this is happening but wishes that the faithful should show the greatest of respect to our dead and so have their remains buried in the ground, awaiting the day of Resurrection. As we approach November, the Month of the Holy Souls, it is a good time to remember our ancient practice of visiting the graves of our loved ones, of having a place where we can go and pray for them, to place a candle and some flowers. To give thanks and never forget them.”

He also said it was worth remembering that the Church had ‘banned cremation as recently as 1963.’

“Our belief in the body as the temple of the Holy Spirit—as well as faith in the resurrection of the body— places a strong preference for burying the body intact,” he said. “From 1963, the Church permitted cremation only if that choice is not a reflection of doubt or disbelief about Catholic teachings about the resurrection. There were also increasing environmental considerations, such as lack of land for burial plots in cities. Finally, the Church was expanding into cultures where cremation is the norm. So there was a change in practice but not, of course, in belief.”

Experience

Fr Dow said his background in the undertaking business had given him a unique persepctive as a priest.

“Being raised in a family of funeral directors I have heard many stories from my late grandfather and mother over the years of good practice and not so good practice!” he said. “I also experienced both in my six years of working full time as a professionally qualified funeral director in the family business. It comes in handy when I come across perhaps less qualified and inexperienced people working in the funeral industry who try to manipulate their clients—my parishioners—into purchasing unnecessary items and services.

“I’m also a former inspector of independent funeral homes in Scotland, so this tends to make funeral directors aware of the standards I would expect for my parishioners!”

A spokesman for the Scottish Catholic Church said: “The document should be seen as a reminder of the current norms and is unlikely to make any noticeable difference to current customs in Catholic funerals in Scotland.”

—[email protected]

—This story ran in full in the October 28 edition print of the SCO, available in parishes.