YOUR FAITH IN THE KNOW WITH FATHER JOE Did we do the wrong thing by CREMATING MY DAD? GETTY IMAGES DEAR FATHER JOE: I have heard that the Church recently the whole thing. I’m not going changed some rules on funerals and cremation and that a to summarize; I’ll just hit the Q points that seem to need the lot of people did cremation wrong. I am really upset, as my dad most clarification/explanation. was cremated three years ago: What do I do? First, the Church instructs us to be sure that, if we choose cremation, we do so for the right reasons. The human body Thanks for asking. I have and how to do it. Anything in is sacred; it’s not a shell, it’s A had a lot of people ask the past that you have done dif- not a prison. As we state in the about this so I am going to do ferently, you need to let go of Apostle’s Creed, we believe in my best to walk us through and not fear. the resurrection of the body. what was written and explain With that in mind, what do If we are choosing cremation some of the “whys” of it all. we have here in this latest letter because of reasons of cost or Before I begin (and it’s really from the Vatican? for sanitary purposes, that is important that you read this What we have is a clarifica- acceptable. If we are choosing paragraph), please note that tion from the Congregation for cremation because we do not anyone who, in innocence and the Doctrine of the Faith called value the human body, then with good intentions, has ap- Ad resurgendum cum Christo, that is not acceptable. proached the burial of a loved meaning “To rise with Christ.” Second, regarding what to one differently than what our It’s a teaching tool to show us do with the cremains of the Church is teaching need not what we are to do regarding deceased person, the Church fear: God is merciful. With few those who have died and are reminds us that we bury the and rare exceptions, we are not cremated. It’s a very short doc- dead. She expresses her rea- T. Gennara T. held responsible for what we ument and quite easy to read. FATHER soning for insisting on burying don’t know. Our job as Cath- Please do not read summaries JOE KRUPP the cremains in a very simple, of it from secular websites or is a former olics is to grow in knowledge straightforward manner: Catholic websites with agendas comedy writer and love of our faith and, by the beyond Jesus: You can pop who is now a time you are finished with this “The Church who, as right over to the Vatican web- Catholic priest. article, I’m hopeful you’ll know Mother, has accompanied site or the USCCB’s and read @Joeinblack what you are supposed to do the Christian during his 8 FAITH Grand Rapids | December 2016 | www.dioceseofgrandrapids.org earthly pilgrimage, offers and prayed for. It is a key part wants to keep us from that and to the Father in Christ, of our faith that, through Jesus, therefore requires us to bury the child of her grace. She we are connected to the dead the remains of our beloved in commits to the earth, in and we foster that connection sacred spaces. hope, the seed of the body through our prayer and remem- Finally, as Catholics, we are that will rise in glory.” brance of them. Check out this not permitted to scatter the The Church amazing line: ashes of the faithful in the land, The document goes on to air or sea and we are not to instructs us to point out that burying the dead “[Burying the dead] in divide the cremains among be sure that, shows our great regard for the Sacred Places prevents family members or friends. This if we choose dignity of the human body: the faithful departed from practice has too many connec- cremation, We treat dignified objects with being forgotten, or the re- tions to non-Christians practic- great dignity. mains from being shown es and is not a respectful way we do so So, we have established so a lack of respect, which to deal with the deceased. for the right far the wishes of holy Mother eventuality is possible, So, there it is. A brief remind- reasons. The Church that we cremate for the most especially once the er from our Holy Father that, as human body right reasons and that we bury immediately subsequent Catholics, we want our beliefs the cremains. The next point, generation has too passed to shine forth in the way we is sacred; it’s logically, is where do we bury away” (emphasis mine). treat the deceased. We want to not a shell, the dead? The answer to that be sure that all we say and do it’s not a question is simple: We bury As a priest, I have witnessed is reflective of our conviction prison.” cremains in sacred places. firsthand some of the problems that the human body is sacred There are many goods that are that come when construction and destined for eternal glory. accomplished when we bury the workers or farmers find the May God bless our efforts to dead in sacred places. This doc- cremains of a person in a spot be faithful in ensuring the care ument offers us a few of them. that was probably marked of our deceased family and Chief among these reasons is many years ago, but no longer friends, both now and in future that the dead belong in sacred is. In most of those situations, generations. places so that they will be the remains have been uninten- Enjoy another day in God’s remembered by the community tionally mistreated. The Church presence! DID YOU From shepherd to saint KNOW? ST. DOMINIC OF SILOS St. Dominic Feast day: December 20 of Silos is the patron saint Around 1000, Dominic was born in During his lifetime, St. of captives, Canas, Navarre, Spain, to a peasant Dominic of Silos not only pregnant family. As a young boy, Dominic worked transformed the monastery women, as a shepherd, which eventually led at Silos, but he saved Chris- prisoners and him to become a Benedictine monk at tian slaves from the Spanish shepherds, the San Millan de la Cogolla monastery. Moors, often paying for their and against When he took on the role as abbot, ransom. hydrophobia, Dominic was ordered by King Garcia III Days before his death, he was quot- insects, mad of Navarre to surrender the monastery’s ed, “I spent the night near the Queen of dogs and lands. Upon his refusal, Dominic was Angels. She has invited me to come in rabies. exiled and relocated to Castile. three days where She is; therefore, I am As he entered the San Sebastian soon going to the celestial banquet to Monastery at Silos, King Ferdinand I which She invites me.” appointed him abbot, and he recon- Dominic died in December 1073 of structed the dilapidated monastery into natural causes. SAINT OF a Romanesque jewel. THE MONTH 9.