Ha! Google is your friend!
Cremation and Catholics
<<http://www.cathcemchgo.org/cremation.htm>> which says that it is no
longer forbidden, not for about 40 years.
But <<http://www.ccaw.org/resources/cremation.htm>> says cremation is
pretty much second best.
<<Even today, the Church acknowledges that “cremation does not hold the
same value” as this traditional way of allowing the body to go gently
back into the earth (Order of Christian Funerals, Reflections, p. 14).
The revised Code of Canon Law of 1983 helps Catholics understand that
the 1963 lifting of the prohibition forbidding Catholics to cremate
their deceased loved one’s remains was never intended as an endorsement:
“The Church earnestly recommends the pious custom of burying the bodies
of the dead be observed, it does not however, forbid cremation unless it
has been chosen for reasons which are contrary to Christian teaching"
(Canon 1176). The Church now allows for cremation of the body, providing
that family members making that decision are not doing so because they
fear the body is lost forever and has no future together in Christ with
the immortal soul. >>
But since Catholic doctors are mostly very pragmatic, I can't see anyone
refusing to sign a crem form on the grounds that Mother Church says it
is second rate.
I can, however, see doctors of all religions and none wanting absolutely
nothing to do with cremation paperwork as a precaution against the next
Shipman debacle. Or am I being far too paranoid about this???
Declan
PS I think I'll put it in my appraisal folder this year!
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