Ashes to Ashes

Fr dear Fr: I attended the funeral of a faith healer through Zoom not long ago and was surprised that the family and next of kin chose cremation with which to resolve the issues surrounding his death, is there a reason for all of this short-circuiting on the rites? I was also shocked at the choice of contemporary pop music for the sacred music of the funeral service at the crematorium - is this all okay in the codexes?

Music - it is about the music most of the time as Vin Diesel says it out in a famous movie - so music, than which no greater thought can be thunk - there are general norms for this kind of thing too, especially surrounding the delicate spiritual terrain of funerals wherein some spirituality must be accorded pride of place - thuswise in our local churches silly romantic songs of a horizontal superficial nature are not allowed in sacrosanct GB churches for the funerals in a sceptered isle, hymns only. So too with cremation.

Generally speaking, cremation has become very very popular of late and local bishops have seen no reason to curb the practice in the local churches and parishes this last while, since the codexes of canon law now recognize the possibility of the flocks choosing this method of disposing of the mortal remains of a Christian with dignity - but there are serious caveats though - as long as it is done with dignity of course. One thinks of the famous case of Mgr Thomas of Chicago in the 1990s when refusing the funeral of a mafia boss that had died apparently impenitent, so refusals from clergy can occur - do check with your local clergy when arranging funerals, and make sure you are Christians and not just humanist sociologians. Bit of advice - Don’t be caught denying the resurrection of Christ.

But more positively, when it comes to the funeral of a faith healer in the community, a local bishop is permitted by the same code of canon law to call a halt to the sociology practice of cremation, since the older sort of burial is accorded the status of the favour of the law on such occasions. There are subjective reasons for this and also objective reasons for this too. The subjective reason mentioned in the code of canon law allows a parish priest to refuse permission for a cremation if he thinks that the flock or the next of kin are choosing cremation just to dispose of the body gratis, without any faith in the resurrection of the Christian temple of the Holy Spirit, or where he suspects that the next of kin is denying serious or solid tenets of the Christian Faith, so he may call a halt and insist on burial, with a right of appeal to the local vicar general or bishop thereafter. Much like the refusal of certain fluffy or superficial or poco cristiano dedications on headstones in anglican and Christian cemeteries by local worshipful chancellors and parish priests. Objective reasons may also exist. A faith healer is obviously a person that has lived in a state of grace and it is incumbent upon the local clergy when presented with such a glorious exception to the general condition of the dead, to bury this kind of person just in case he or she later turns out to be incorrupt and is to be exhumed for the veneration of the flocks of the faithful. Suppose Padre Pio had been cremated? Or Carlo Acutis? Or John Paul II? Obviously, such a raising to the dignity of the altars cannot happen if the poor chap or girl is cremated forthwith. So exhumation and exposure to the veneration of the flocks is a good enough objective reason for the local parish priest to refuse permission for cremation. Clearly, it is not sufficient for impatient and unbelieving or empiricist bishops or local fussy clergy to choose cremation - God forbid - just to be rid of a possible saint or a possible cause of canonisation - that would be a grave abuse and a grave sin against the faith of the Church - the very reason why clergy are permitted to stop a cremation.

Now in the olde worlde church of the bad old days, it was often decided by local parish priests and their monsignores that the faithful should not be encouraged to venerate a servant of God and prayers cards and memorial cards of the servant and venerandus/a, usually “a”, were often thuswise banned and crushed by the olde worlde male sceptical unbelieving clergy with an eye on the main chance or just seeking to impress their local bishops with a dose of local practical atheism, but this is not the case any more in the new code of canon law - no such scepticism or official atheism is allowed any more since the flocks have a right to a good reputation, period, and this is a fundamental norm not just an incidental law of the codexes - canon 220 western codex, canon 23 of the eastern codex. Atheists did creep into the ranks of the clergy in those bad old days when Soviet Russia was encouraged for veneration in the radicalised seminaries of the 1970s and 1980s and 1990s. Reasons for positive believing are now granted the favour of the law. That favour of the law issue means something - it means a lot when one has a relative that is a faith healer. Consequently, for either subjective reasons or objective reasons, a parish priest or his distant vicar general might yet be justified in refusing permission for a cremation especially in these exalted cases for such glorious reasons. It stands to reason. Anywhere where the generic tenets of the Christian Faith, though here especially in the general resurrection of the body, are denied by the next of kin is a sufficient excuse and a legitimate interest for the parish clergy to refuse cremation.

While allowed in certain circumstances, and even though very popular nowadays, cremation does NOT enjoy the favour of the law, and this is especially a critical issue to remind ourselves of in sceptical times when the Christian faith is much reduced into a Good Friday faith with a denial of Easter Sunday faith, especially though when one is faced with the burial and funeral of a glorious charismatic faith healer. The glorious beliefs of the Christian flocks and gatherings of the faithful are to be affirmed, and not denied or denigrated or degenerated by unbelieving penetration Soviet or PRC clergy. For more on this see canon 1184 of the western codex, or more generally canon 877 of the eastern codex.