Exerpted from "The Voice of Your Shepherd," 
Anthony Cardinal  Bevilacqua;
 June 2001.  Volume 8, Issue 2

After Pentecost, the apostles preached the good news that Jesus was alive.  Christ's Resurrection is the cornerstone of our faith.  When someone we love dies, we comfort one another with the hope that they, too, will rise from the dead.

In many ways, our culture denies death, but sooner or later each of us must face his or her mortality.  Reflecting on death is not morbid, but helps us to appreciate each day and prepares us for the time when we will cross the threshold to new life.

The Church expects those who have been baptized as Catholics to take full advantage of the Order of Christian Funerals.  Catholic funeral rites highlight several important beliefs and values that the Church affirms:  the sacredness of all human life; the dignity of the individual person; the resurrection of Jesus Christ; the importance of praying for the dead; and the Church's ministry of consolation to those who mourn.

The Order of Christian Funerals also reflects a tradition in which the burial of the body is the principal manner of its final disposition.  Although the Church earnestly recommends the custom of interring the bodies of the dead, the practice of cremation has become part of Catholic practice in the United States, where it is used now in about 20 percent of all funerals.

Remember that, under ordinary circumstances, the Church requires that the body of the deceased be present for the funeral rites.  Therefore, cremation should take place following the funeral liturgy.  Moreover, the cremated remains should be entombed in a mausoleum or buried in a grave in a cemetery.  The practice of scattering ashes or keeping them at home is not the reverent disposition that the Church requires.

Let me also remind you that our archdiocesan cemeteries welcome non-Catholic family members as well.  The Church believe that those who were together in life should not be separated in death.

From the catacombs to our cemeteries today, the practice of praying for the faithful departed is a long standing tradition in the Church.  A Mass in memory of those buried in diocesan cemeteries is celebrated every Saturday (except in July and August) in Our Lady of the Assumption Chapel at Saints Peter and Paul Cemetery, 1600 South Sproul Rd., Springfield, at 10:00 a.m.

Be assured of my prayers for your beloved deceased who rest peacefully in Christ until He comes again.

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