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Margie
wrote:
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Hi guys,
I have two questions.
I have heard that it is against Catholic
teaching to be cremated. I personally do
not wish to be cremated but my husband
does.
- Could you please clarify this teaching?
The second is God's will versus
free will. We are taught, and I firmly
believe, that we have free will, yet when
something disastrous happens, such as a
violent death, or being struck by cancer,
I often hear people say it is God's
will or God's plan.
I completely
disagree that God has a plan that certain
people will have such a fate. I believe
that Our Loving Lord would never allow
people to suffer and that He is saddened:
- when our free will causes a person to harm
an innocent child, or
- that our efforts
to make more money cause us to use chemicals
which can alter cells and cause cancer.
I believe that is why, in the Beatitudes,
Jesus tells us that those that suffer are
especially blessed.
- Am I wrong?
Please
help clarify this for me, as I want to
be sure that I teach my children according
to our Catholic faith.
Thank you so much,
Margie
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Can you clarify the Church's teaching on cremation and how God's Will works in our lives? }
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and in a similar question:
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Diane
Szelogowski wrote:
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Hi, guys —
- Is cremation against the Catholic religion?
- Also, is it wrong to scattered a person's
ashes on top of a family member that is
buried?
Diane
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Is
cremation and scattered a persons ashes on
a family member that is buried OK? }
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John
replied:
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Hi, Maggie —
Cremation is OK, so long as the ashes
are not scattered. The Church is
concerned that scattering ashes might
be perceived by some as a denial
of the Resurrection of the dead,
hence it has this pastoral provision.
As to your second question, greater
minds than you or I have struggled
with this paradox.
God is sovereign and nothing can
thwart His Will, yet at the same
time His Will is that we have free
will — somehow the two coexist.
That said, God's Will is life and
not death. Death entered the world
as a result of sin. That sin now
effects us all.
Satan, (the author of lies, sin,
and destruction) brings death, sickness,
and suffering.
As Christians we can offer that suffering
as Christ offered His Suffering to the Father. What Satan
intends for evil, God will use for
good.
So the point is, since God's sovereign
Will allows free will, evil has
an effect on everyone; even the innocent.
John DiMascio
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Eric
replied:
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Hi, Diane —
Cremation is now allowed, so long
as it is not done:
- in defiance of
the Resurrection of the body or otherwise
- disrespectfully to the Christian
faith.
Scattering of ashes, however,
is not presently allowed. The person
would need to be properly interred
(either in the ground or a mausoleum).
Eric
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