The following comes from a November 1 Catholic San Francisco article by Valerie Schmalz:
A “strongly worded” document from the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on the disposal of cremated remains means some Catholics may have concerns about past decisions to scatter the ashes of loved ones, said Monica Williams, director of the archdiocesan Catholic cemeteries.
But Williams said there are still ways to honor at a Catholic cemetery those whose cremains have been scattered and to insure they will be prayed for as an individual as all the dead are prayed for at Holy Cross Cemetery and all Catholic cemeteries.
At Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma, a number of options exist to make sure each individual is remembered, even if their bodies have already been cremated and dispersed, Williams said.
The cemetery makes provisions for those who cannot afford burial or cremation. It has also created special areas throughout the cemetery for cremated remains that offer a wide range of prices and memorial options, Williams said. “We want to make the cemeteries accessible for people to have cremated remains placed, for those who believe our church’s teaching about the cemetery as a place of prayer and as a place to remember,” she said.
The cemetery will also install a memorial plaque for a person whose ashes have been dispersed or otherwise are unavailable, so that the most important act of mercy may be performed for them – they will be prayed for along with all those buried at the cemetery, Williams said. The person’s name may also be added to an existing family headstone, Williams said.
For instance, she said, a woman whose husband’s ashes were scattered was able to add an urn with mementos of him in a niche where she would eventually be buried. The man’s name was placed on the plaque at the niche so that he would be individually remembered and prayed for at once, Williams said.
here’s an area where a diocese or the catholic bishops could create a liturgical insert for reparation for carelessly handled ashes or ‘cremation regret’.
When my father died I was living with my parents in the Diocese of Monterey, California. My mother and I went to San Carlos Cemetery which is owned and run by the Catholic Diocese of Monterey. We were planning to buy a burial plot, but instead purchased a nitch in a free standing building where two coffins can be placed inside end to end. The idea was that both of my parents would be interred together. That was in July 1973. Shortly after this we moved away from the area. In 1996 when my mother died I arranged for a funeral Mass with the body present in my parish church and after the funeral I had her body cremated. The urn with her ashes was placed in the nitch at San Carlos Cemetery next to my father’s coffin. I have already…
I have already made arrangements with San Carlos Cemetery that when I die after the funeral Mass my own body will be cremated. The urn with my ashes will then be placed in the nitch next to the coffin of my father and the urn with my mother’s ashes. The manager at San Carlos Catholic Cemetery has told me that now-a-days many families are purchasing one nitch that will hold two coffins or many urns. By using cremation the ashes can still be interred in a Catholic Cemetery where there is a chapel and Mass is offered regularly for the dead, but the cost is much less expensive. RIP
Wonderful. Now that’s pastoral care.
Isn’t each Catholic Diocese supposed to have a Catholic cemetery or a dedicated place for Catholic burials ?
My Diocese does not.
Code of Canon Law – https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG1104/__P4L.HTM