Encouraging the Culture of Encounter with Jesus Christ, His Church, and All People
 
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
 
Yes, We Still Believe in That!
When burying the remains of the dead.  This is a practice that Catholics must do; it is one of the corporal works of mercy.  As Christians we believe our bodies are good because God created them. He meant for them to be part of who we are forever. Due to original sin, death entered the world thus leaving our bodies to corruption. Keep that in mind if tempted to think that sin is not that bad. Remember that Adam and Eve were created so that they would not die, but their sin (and ours) literally bring death.  However our loving God does not abandon His creation. He sent His Son to redeem us from sin by incarnating, taking to Himself our human nature (which means taking on a human body and soul for real, not merely the appearance).  When Jesus died, He died bodily like we do.  When He rose from the dead, it was not just His Divinity or His soul that rose, but His body.  He did not become an angel, but resurrected body and soul.  This is made clear in the Resurrection accounts in the Scriptures. Therefore this gives us the opportunity to rise on the last day and be glorified as He is. We pray this every week in the Creed, “I believe in the resurrection of the body.”
Therefore even though on account of sin we die and our souls are separated from our bodies, this is not meant to last forever.  At the end of time at the Final Judgement, God will raise our mortal bodies, and those souls in heaven will receive their bodies but glorified sharing in the perfect vision of God for eternity. Those souls in hell, will also regain their bodies but not glorified; theirs will bodily suffer in the eternal torment of hell.
This is the belief behind why we respect the bodies of the dead on earth.  This is why the church requires respectful burial of a person after he or she dies.  Preferably this means the person’s body is buried in a casket, and, for Catholics, preferably in a Catholic cemetery or at least on holy ground.  For those not buried in a Catholic cemetery, the ground is blessed by the priest or deacon during the committal prayers. In more recent years, the church has allowed cremation of the faithful departed, but only if the cremains are reverently buried or placed in a columbarium at a cemetery. Also, one’s reason for cremation cannot be because he or she denies the Resurrection of the Body. This is why cremation was forbidden in the church for centuries. In the past, (and even today at times), it was seen by the wider culture as a denial of the Christian belief, thus the church condemned it.
Therefore it is not allowed to put our loved ones in an urn and keep them in our homes on the mantle or in a closet.  Remember we treat the cremains the same as a body in a casket. So for the same reason we do not keep the decaying corpse of grandma in our house, nor do we keep her cremains.  I am sorry if this is grotesque, but it is to make the point.  This means we do not spread the ashes over the ground or a lake for the same reason we do not spread little pieces of a corpse over an area. This is disrespecting the body God gave to the deceased and ignores the reality of the Resurrection of our bodies.
There is a lot of confusion out there about this. Feel free to ask me any questions.  Also perhaps you or your family did not know this was the Church’s teaching, and have someone’s cremains at home.  Let me know and we can plan a burial service. There are some situations where the Catholic party does not have the power to determine what happens to the cremains.  In these situations do your best by praying and trying to persuade the family to bury the remains perhaps by an offer to help with the expenses.  Burying the dead is a corporal work of mercy we want to honor because of God’s gift to us of our bodies and the opportunity for resurrection one day.
 
Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Pfr