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Funerals & the Culture of Death


Bong-Man

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Found it.  Written last year:

Since 1963, Catholics have been allowed to choose cremation over burial as a means of laying a loved one to rest. Cremation is a popular choice since it is less expensive and more manageable than a full burial.

However, some Catholics have not been dealing properly with their loved ones remains. Common practices include scattering ashes, parting ashes out to friends and relatives, and keeping the ashes in a common area, such as a living room.


These practices promote heretical ideas and can be dangerous from a faith perspective. This is why the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has issued updated guidelines.

According to the new guidelines, burial is still preferred, but cremation is an option. When a loved one has been cremated, their ashes must be kept intact, the same as one would treat a body. The ashes may not be separated or scattered. Instead, they should remain in a proper vessel that is interred in a proper place, such as a cemetery or church. Only the bishop can authorize an exception to this storage requirement in extraordinary circumstances.

The problem, the Congregation says, are new age ideas which have taken hold in modern times. People have come to see scattering of their ashes as allowing a "fusion" of them with nature, or that death is a form of liberation from the body. These ideas flirt with new age religion and are not Catholic. Ashes cannot be scattered because it gives the appearance of "pantheism, naturalism, or nihilism."

Finally, the document stresses that Catholics who choose cremation for reasons contrary to the faith, (e.g., to have their ashes scattered)  must be denied a Christian funeral.

 

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Nothing has changed the funeral business more in recent times than the Great Recession.  Someone's lucky to leave $15,000 in their whole estate, let alone that much to pay for an old-fashioned funeral & wake.  Cremation and some type of memorial service seems to have become the norm.

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9 hours ago, Stryder1978 said:

...actually Jesus was a Jew and burial procedures were followed after his death.

Understandable, however Jesus never said a thing about the disposal of a human body. However, in Matthew 5:17-20. Jesus boldly claims to “fulfill” the Law of Moses, not uphold the existing law. So, though a Jew he was pretty much doing his own thing and believed the heart should dictate the requirements of the law, not the other way around. This is one of the reasons the catholics allowed cremations following Vatican II.

So, if you are a pre-Vatican II nutter like Mel Gibson, you must continue to experience mass in latin with the priest facing the alter instead of the congregation. Must continue to blame the Jews for the murder of Jesus, and must dispose of your dead in the earth.

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6 hours ago, Stryder1978 said:

Found it.  Written last year:

Since 1963, Catholics have been allowed to choose cremation over burial as a means of laying a loved one to rest. Cremation is a popular choice since it is less expensive and more manageable than a full burial.

However, some Catholics have not been dealing properly with their loved ones remains. Common practices include scattering ashes, parting ashes out to friends and relatives, and keeping the ashes in a common area, such as a living room.


These practices promote heretical ideas and can be dangerous from a faith perspective. This is why the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has issued updated guidelines.

According to the new guidelines, burial is still preferred, but cremation is an option. When a loved one has been cremated, their ashes must be kept intact, the same as one would treat a body. The ashes may not be separated or scattered. Instead, they should remain in a proper vessel that is interred in a proper place, such as a cemetery or church. Only the bishop can authorize an exception to this storage requirement in extraordinary circumstances.

The problem, the Congregation says, are new age ideas which have taken hold in modern times. People have come to see scattering of their ashes as allowing a "fusion" of them with nature, or that death is a form of liberation from the body. These ideas flirt with new age religion and are not Catholic. Ashes cannot be scattered because it gives the appearance of "pantheism, naturalism, or nihilism."

Finally, the document stresses that Catholics who choose cremation for reasons contrary to the faith, (e.g., to have their ashes scattered)  must be denied a Christian funeral.

 

Well of course because logic dictates the entity who created the whole universe is somehow unable to reassemble scattered remains. Nice to see the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith (formerly known as the Office of the Inquisition) believes the eternal god is somehow less intelligent than your average engineer yet can, at the same time, create matter from nothing.

 

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On ‎1‎/‎4‎/‎2018 at 7:58 AM, kipper said:

what is the deal with all of the roadside and sidewalk memorials these days?  From my apartment to my bus stop there are at least 4 memorial one of which has been there for what looks like years with fake flowers and and old candles.

Isnt the cemetery the proper place for these things?

Personally, I believe it's a by-product of an increasingly secular humanist society/culture. We don't venerate religious figures and articles of faith in churches and cemeteries like we used to. Consequently, we do place memorials to our loved ones anywhere we feel there is some connection to them. Fortunately, most cities have ordinances to keep this sort of thing from getting out of hand.  

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16 hours ago, SteveAJones said:

Personally, I believe it's a by-product of an increasingly secular humanist society/culture. We don't venerate religious figures and articles of faith in churches and cemeteries like we used to. Consequently, we do place memorials to our loved ones anywhere we feel there is some connection to them. Fortunately, most cities have ordinances to keep this sort of thing from getting out of hand.  

We are all slowly becoming Shinto. The ghosts of 17th century Japanese aristocracy must be laughing in their graves.

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On 1/4/2018 at 1:55 PM, Stryder1978 said:

I agree completely...put me in a cardboard box and send me through the furnace.  Only problem is, as a Catholic, the papacy has decided that I'm STILL supposed to be buried in consecrated soil.  I have in my will that my executor is to pay a climber to dump my ashes on the top of Mount Everest!

Now that is never going to happen

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21 hours ago, IpMan said:

Understandable, however Jesus never said a thing about the disposal of a human body. However, in Matthew 5:17-20. Jesus boldly claims to “fulfill” the Law of Moses, not uphold the existing law. So, though a Jew he was pretty much doing his own thing and believed the heart should dictate the requirements of the law, not the other way around. This is one of the reasons the catholics allowed cremations following Vatican II.

So, if you are a pre-Vatican II nutter like Mel Gibson, you must continue to experience mass in latin with the priest facing the alter instead of the congregation. Must continue to blame the Jews for the murder of Jesus, and must dispose of your dead in the earth.

I do believe there is a reference in the bible about the sanctity of the body?  But not specific enough to disqualify cremation.   The Romans did not want the Jews revolting so executing Jesus to them was the easiest solution.  I think equal blame goes around, but Jesus entered into it fully willing for it to unfold this way.  The movie Risen is a good film to see, about the events after the Crucifixion.  Ciaphu goes to Pilate and Pilate sends Claudius to bring him Jesus's body.  He sees Jesus resurrected with his own eyes and flees with the apostles to the sea of Galilea where he pronounced to Mary Magdeline he wil appear to them one more time in Galilea on the water.  Joe Fiennes is the star of the movie

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