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How to Talk with Someone Who is Grieving | Funeral Facts with Deacon Marc

 

Below is a transcript the the video:

Hello, this is Deacon Marc with Funeral Facts with Deacon Marc, and today we’re going to talk about that difficult conversation for many people; what do you say to someone who’s just lost a loved one? How do you have that? For many people that very difficult conversation and what I’m going to do is offer you 5 suggestions as ways that you can prepare and have that conversation in a healthy meaningful and loving type of way. 

One is it is very simple to start the conversation, just let them know I’m sorry for your loss my condolences on your loss and let them know that you’re empathizing with them and that you’re sorry that they lost their loved one. 

The second piece of it is, offering to pray but even better yet offering to pray with them right then. “I know you lost your dad it’s difficult time for you can we just pray together?” You just take a moment to pray together and be with them in prayer and lift yourselves up to the heavenly father and the love of heaven flow.

The third piece to think about is a favorite memory. “I’m sorry you lost your mother. I’m sure you’ve have several great memories of her. Can you share one of those memories with me? I’d love to hear more about your mother that you loved.” Asking them to share a favorite memory.  

 Fourthly, you want to just be present with them and sometimes that means just having some silence. As awkward as it may be, just let them be in silence and let the person be there with you. 

 And finally number five, what can I offer for you? And if you’re offering to help them, most of them they don’t even know what help they need or what you can offer. It’s very good to say “Hey I love to help and bring a dinner over on Tuesday. Would that be helpful to you? Or would there be a better way for me to help you out?” and be very specific in what you can offer but also open-ended that if there’s something else they want to ask you for that they can ask you for that. 

It is a very difficult conversation to have with someone but it’s a very important conversation to have with people and so just offer your condolences being there offering your prayer love and support is the way that you can help console and be there for a friend who’s lost a loved one. 

 This is Funeral Facts with Deacon Marc make it a great day. God bless 

Catholic Funeral & Cemetery Services (CFCS) of Colorado is dedicated to providing caring support before, during, and after the end-of-life process, thereby fulfilling our core purpose of “Filling the Void of Loss with Faith.” CFCS Colorado has partnered with Saint Raphael Counseling (a ministry of the Archdiocese of Denver Catholic Charities) to provide a Grief Support Program to the families we serve. Through this partnership, CFCS Colorado offers a tiered grief support program to meet the needs of our families and to help families navigate the journey of grief. This program is also open to the public as part of our community outreach.

To learn more about our Grief Support Program, visit our website: https://cfcscolorado.org/mission-programs/grief-support/

The Funeral Liturgy (The Mass) │ by Deacon Marc

The Funeral Liturgy (The Mass)

Thornton CO Funeral Services And Cremations

Do we really have to have a Funeral Mass (or Funeral Liturgy Outside of Mass)?   What if no one is going to come?   These are two questions I often receive from individuals when I discuss funerals with them.   The answer is a strong YES!  While the Funeral Mass is partially for the living, it is more so for the deceased.  There are graces for the decedent that come in having a Funeral Liturgy.  This is the last opportunity for your body to be present in front of the Eucharist – the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Christ.   Yes, you want to have a Funeral Liturgy.   Yes, when possible and feasible, you want to have a Funeral Mass.

As the Eucharist is the source and summit of our faith, it should be of no surprise that the Funeral Liturgy is the central part of the Order of Christian Funerals.  While you can utilize the Funeral Liturgy Outside of Mass for specific reasons, the Funeral Mass is the typical and ordinary form of liturgy used within the Order of Christian Funerals.  The Funeral Mass is always the preferred liturgy.  Whether you have a traditional casket burial or a cremation burial, individuals can have a funeral Mass.  That said, the preference is always to have the full body present.  This means the preference is to have cremation take place following the Mass.

Those attending a Funeral Mass will find it very similar to their Sunday Mass with a few additions.  You have the Liturgy of the Word and the Liturgy of the Eucharist.   If this is the first time the body is coming into the Church, the Rite of Reception takes place at the start of the Mass.  During this rite, a pall is placed on the casket and the casket is blessed with holy water prior to processing to the front of the church.  However, if the body is cremated, the pall is not utilized.  After the Liturgy of the Eucharist; the Funeral Mass ends with Commendation Prayers.   This Funeral Liturgy Outside of Mass has most of the same components except the Liturgy of the Eucharist is omitted.

Often, people ask if they can have a eulogy at the Funeral Liturgy.  The Archdiocese of Denver does allow for one short eulogy just prior to the Commendation Prayers, and it must be noted that the ideal time for the eulogies is at the Vigil.

The focus of the Funeral Liturgy is on God’s love for us.  There is no greater example of His love than Jesus dying on the cross for each of us.   This is what we celebrate at every Mass.  We have one final opportunity to participate in this celebration at our Funeral Mass.  Do you really want to miss out on that celebration?   I don’t!   I don’t want to miss the opportunity for the graces that come forth, nor the opportunity for my loved one to fill the void of loss with faith.

Deacon Marc Nestorick
Outreach Manager
Catholic Funeral & Cemetery Services of Colorado

For more information, visit our website: https://cfcscolorado.org/services/funeral/

The Catholic Church on Natural Burial / “Green Burial” │ Funeral Facts

Below is a transcript the the video:

Hello and welcome to the funeral facts with Deacon Marc

We’ve been going on about a three-week now this is our 4th edition around the final disposition. We talked about what his final disposition? The traditional ways of final disposition, the not so traditional but permitted ways, and then last week we talked about non options and why they were non option.

This week we’re going to talk about a question that like goes on the fringe of all that and it all comes down to how do you define this answer.

Is natural burial permitted?

And anytime, I get that question all the time, can I have natural burial? and first thing I gotta ask them is: what do you consider a natural burial? because in many cases they go back into the composting and different things like that when we’ve already talked about that and that’s not a go and this is why it’s not a go, but we can do an environmentally friendly burial and the church embraces and encourages us to respect the environment and to be environmental friendly so natural burial done properly within the Catholic view is something that is greatly permitted.

So what is a natural burial that is environmentally friendly and aligned with Catholic teaching? And so I can talk about a couple of different things first of all, you don’t have to be embalmed. You can say no to embalming we don’t have to have all those chemicals in your body we don’t have to have all those chemicals in the world you can say no to embalming.

I do need to let you know though if you say no to embalming you have to have a closed casket in most cases. Most cases, most funeral homes will not let you have an unemblamed, open casket. I don’t think your family wants to have, see you unembalmed in an open casket. It just is not, the body deteriorates way too quickly. so you don’t have to have embalming.

You don’t have to have a casket, in most cases. I’ve had people asking I buried in a big sheet type of thing and the answer is yes there’s no requirement that you have a casket. Can I be buried directly on the ground? Can I my body be touching dirt? The answer is yes you can.

And then the final thing I’ve been asked is can we do it so that there’s no machinery digging the grave the answer is yes depending upon the cemetery you can do that, but it probably is going to be very expensive because it costs a lot of money to hand dig the hole that is needed for proper burial.

So those are things that you can do people to minimize the environmental impact the and all that on on the environment is that you can do no embalming, you can do no casket, you can do directly upon the ground, and you could do no machinery if you wanted to do so.

All those contribute to a natural burial so really you can have a burial where someone passes away and you’re put into the ground, but you gotta talk to the cemetery because even in our cemetery we do have one condition upon all that is that we do require that there is a cement vault placed over top of your body so that it prevents the ground from caving in.

What we don’t want to have happen is a safety issue where we have this flat cemetery then all of a sudden we have this deep ditch that is provides with the safety issue and an issue for us to do the landscaping and upkeep of it and so in our cemetery you can be buried on the ground but you have to have a cement vault over top of you to prevent that ground from caving in and make sure that it’s a safety issue.

So all those things can be done it really is a matter of if you want a natural burial call it the cemetery call us up talk to us here about all of it Saints Simeon we can work through the different issues with you and talk to you through what you can and cannot do but in the bottom line is; We want to be environmentally friendly we want to support human being environmentally friendly and there’s a lot that we can do to accomplish that

That is this week’s funeral facts with Deacon Marc make it a great day.

For more information about Catholic Church teaching, visit our website: https://cfcscolorado.org/catholic-teaching/

Catholic Church on Water Cremation / Aquamation and Human Body Composting

Below is a transcript the the video:

Hello and welcome to funeral facts with Deacon Marc.

We’ve been going through a series talking about final dispositions and this one is an interesting one to me and I call it the non options. What are the things that are not options for us as Catholics and more importantly why? Why are these not the right options for us as Catholics not just because someone told us no but why are they not in options.

And so if you’re looking at the funeral industry today, it is absolutely crazy all the different options that you have we have, burial, cremation, donation of the body to science, burial at sea, alkaline hydrolysis, natural organic reduction, cryogenics, mushroom suit. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera; the list goes on and on.

So how do we navigate all this what has permitted and at some points we need to trust those that are studying morality as a church to give us some guidance but we always have to remember that whatever we’re going to do with the body at the end has to be guided by really one major thing and two other sub things of it and that is number one that paragraph 2300 in the catechism that reads:

“The body of the dead must be treated with respect and charity and faith and hope of the resurrection the burial of dead is a corporal work of mercy it honors the children of God who are temples of the Holy Spirit.”

Bottom line with anything we wanna both respect the body and how we treat it and also respect the body in its final disposition and then the other two parts that really come out of that is that the body should be interred as one unit. That doesn’t mean one solid unit but as  one unit in its entirety in a cemetery and it has a you should have the means to do that

And then the other piece of that we don’t often think about is there needs to be that promise of the long term care of the remains and that’s why a lot of places are hesitant to open up cemeteries at local churches and many diocese prefer to have diocesan cemeteries, just because we can make sure that those cemeteries are there forever rather than the church that may close in 15, 20 or 30 years and then you’re like what do we do with all these with this cemetery we have here so three things that we always want to take into consideration and we respect the body both in how are treating it and what we’re doing with it are we in turning the remains and is there long term care possibilities for those remains.

So when you’re thinking about that we have appropriate final dispositions that meet all three of those criteria burial, cremation, burial at sea, donation to scientific research with internment. All those have meet those 3 criteria could be done with respect with internment with long term Care now if we look at all the others and I’m not going to go into each one of them you can look them up if you want I know there’s a lot of curiosity about the mushroom suit but let’s look at two of the most common ones.

Alkaline hydrolysis (sometimes referred to as “water cremation” or “aquamation”) and natural organic reduction (sometimes referred to as “human body composting”) are processes where essentially your body is put into a stainless steel tube, water is combined with some different chemicals is put in and in a short amount of time that combination of the water and chemicals deteriorates all body other than the skeletal remains that water and the chemicals are then released into the sewage system and then the bones are broken down and returned to the family the other one is composting and if you think of having a compost heap back in your backyard that’s exactly similar to what’s it’s doing but a more deliberate purpose for the human body is that you’re combining the body with different things that will allow for the compost over the course of about a month in many cases is what I’ve read so now you might be asking “well what’s the problem with both of those?”

But both of those have problems and that in the respect for the body and in the internment of the remains and with regard to respect for the body both of those processes really aren’t respectful that this is part of the gods the body of that are made in the image of God and also the internment issues are an issue with both and particularly the alkaline hydrolysis much of the body other than the skeletal remains are going down with the tubes with the water rather than being buried with the individual and so in both cases individuals who when the churches looked at this with people who specialize in moral theology have really deemed that these other processes are not respectful of the human body and that we need to stick with the more traditional burial, cremation, burial at see, or donating the body to science with Interment at a later date

A lot to go into a lot of nuances with it there’s some great research and great publications out there with regards to these alternative practices that aren’t accepted we’re going to include in the notes below this video some websites that you can go to that actually have question and answers about all these different processes and can outline them a little bit better than I can in the short video but the bottom line is we got 4 dispositions that are permanent because they respect the body there’s internment of the remains and there’s long term care possibilities there and there many others that are not that way because of lack of respect of the body.

Next week we’re gonna look at one that goes I get a lot of questions about natural burial and how does that apply into these situations we’re gonna talk about that next week in funeral facts with Deacon mark make it a great day.

For more information about Catholic teaching and norms for funerals, cremation, and burial, visit our website: https://cfcscolorado.org/catholic-teaching/

Ministry Newsletter │ April 2024

Ministry Newsletter │ April 2024

Click here to view our entire ministry newsletter.

April is Dedicated to the Blessed Sacrament and the Holy Spirit

The month of April is dedicated to the Blessed Sacrament and the Holy Spirit. Easter Sunday can occur between March 22nd and April 25th, depending on the lunar cycle of a particular year. Even if Easter Sunday occurs in March, the Easter Season will still include April. In many ways, April can be seen as the “Month of Easter.”

The Blessed Sacrament refers to the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, also known as the Eucharist. The Eucharist was instituted by Jesus Christ, himself, on Holy Thursday as described in the Synoptic Gospels: Matthew 26:25-29; Mark 14:22-26; and Luke 22:14-20. St. Paul also records the institution in First Corinthians 11:23-25. Although the Gospel of John does not include words of institution, John 6:47-67 is very explicit about Jesus’ real presence in the Eucharist. “Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him” (John 6:53-56). Thus, the Eucharist is the “source and summit of the Christian life” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1324).

We are currently in the Year of Parish Revival phase of the National Eucharistic Revival which is focused on renewing the Church by enkindling a living relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist. Reach out to your local parish to learn how you can participate. Click here to learn more.

May you have a blessed and spiritually fruitful month of April!

Click here to sign up for our monthly ministry newsletter to stay up to date with upcoming events and developments.

Non-Traditional Methods of Disposition │ Body Donation and Burial at Sea

Below is a transcript the the video:

Hello and welcome to Funeral Facts with Deacon Marc.

It’s great to have you back. For this edition, last time we talked about final disposition, we talked about cremation, traditional body, and really what just in general final disposition is. I want to answer two questions that are fairly common I get.

One is, can I donate my body to science? And then the second question is, can we bury at sea?

And the answer to both is yes with some conditions and so, talk about both of them and start with can I donate my body to science?

Yes, but we want to ground ourselves in the overriding premise that that that is grounding for everything we do with the human body and that is stated in catechism paragraph 2300 that says:

“The bodies of the dead must be treated with respect and charity in faith and hope of the resurrection. The burial of the dead is a corporal work of mercy. It honors the children of god who are temples of a Holy Spirit.”

So the bottom line in everything we do, everything we talk about the treatment of the body. We’re talking about respecting it as children of the God of God and as a temple of the Holy Spirit. And so you need to look at it within that.

So then the question becomes can I have an autopsy? Can I donate my body to science? And the answer to that is yes. Paragraph two thousand three hundred and one says:

“Autopsies can be morally permitted for legal and or scientific research. The free gift of organs after death is legitimate and can be meritous”

And so not only is it a legitimate to do but it’s also something meritous to do to allow somebody else to have life from your research on your body or from donating the organs. Now, there’s a couple things that you gotta think about when donating a body to science and there’s two things I want you to consider.

One is that in donating a body to science, the research that’s being done under the use of the body and those parts needs to be done legally and morally. So, you don’t want to donate your body to science to research things that go against the Catholic church’s teachings or things that might go again be utilized to, for instance, promote the culture of death and so, we want to make sure that the research is legitimate is legal and also is going for a morally good purpose.

The second part of it is just like with any human body, we want to inter that body and whatever is left in a cemetery and so after the body is utilized for research, whatever is left is needs to be gathered back together and brought back to the family for a final disposition of burial or cremation and so yes, you can donate the science for legitimate, legal, and moral purposes and then, also at the same point in time with the intention of having that body brought back either cremated or traditional body burial for interment in a cemetery.

So, that’s the first question about can we donate Science. The other not so typical final disposition is burial at sea and yes, in Colorado, we don’t have the sea near us so we don’t see that many burials at sea but if you’re by the coast, you’re probably going to see more people wanting burials at sea.

Now, the first piece about the burial at sea is that it’s not normative. It’s not the normal disposition of the body but it can be utilized when it is necessary as what the different documents of the church has said is that it’s not normal but at the same point in time can be utilized as necessary and there’s nothing in cannon law that prevents the proper disposition of the final body as burial at sea.

Now, there is a couple conditions upon it. One, is that the body or the cremated remains must be buried at sea altogether. So, you can’t go out of your boat and you can’t go out of the boat and start splashing ashes all over the place. You take those cremated remains, you put them in a urn, you weight them down, and you bury them at sea all intact and the same thing with the human body.

The body needs to be placed in an appropriate container casket weighted down so that it’s buried and floats to the bottom and that it is buried as a whole body. The other piece is not church related is the EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency has regulations about this.

For instance, you’re not allowed to do a burial at sea within three nautical miles I think it is of regulations as to what is allowed and permanent. The final thing I would tell you is check with your local diocese.

So, if you live in Florida, check with the diocese there. The bishop does have the authority to say this is what we’re going to do with regard to buried sea cremation all that kind of stuff. You’ll always want to check with your local diocese ‘cuz what happens here in Denver may be very different than what happens in Miami and so you do want to check there but the bottom line, Canon Law, nothing preventing burial at sea.

Donating your body to research is permitted and actually can be seen as a meritous type of thing for you to do. Next week, we’re going to talk an exhibition.

We’re going to talk about what are those things that are non options, what can’t we do, and why can’t we do them? With that, this is Funeral Facts with Deacon Mark.

Make it a great day.

Learn more about Catholic teaching and norms from our website: https://cfcscolorado.org/catholic-teaching/

The Vigil │ by Deacon Marc

The Vigil

Lakewood CO Funeral

My grandfather passed away when I was a young child.  He was a firefighter and passed away while fighting a fire.  I can remember going to the Vigil and leaning over the casket.   Unsure of what to do, a family member whispered in my ear telling me to say goodbye and ask God to bless him “for a safe trip to God.”  While my family member did not realize it, she summarized in her short whisper the importance of the Vigil in the Order of Christian Funerals.

The Vigil is held prior to the funeral liturgy (Funeral Mass) with the recommendation that it be held “well before” the funeral liturgy.  Typically and traditionally this means at least the night before the liturgy.  The Vigil may also be held over a series of days.   The Vigil is the opportunity for the family to come together to pray as a community for the person who passed away (intercessory prayer), and to remember and share stories of the loved one who passed away.  This is the ideal time for eulogies as family and friends are coming together often for the first time.

As the Vigil is a time for intercessory prayer, the Rosary is often part of a Vigil.   The Rosary is such a traditional part of the Vigil that often times the Vigil is referred to as “The Rosary.”   The Rosary is one of the most widely used forms of intercessory prayer to the Blessed Mother.  With each Hail Mary, we are asking Mary to pray for us now and at the hour of our death.   While the Rosary can be done in place of the Vigil, there are fruits to doing the Vigil with the Rosary.

The Vigil is often done within the “Viewing.”   During the Viewing there can be an open or closed casket.  If the individual is cremated, the cremated remains may be present.   While the viewing may be several hours, the Vigil is a formal time of prayer often within the Viewing.

Unfortunately, today many are opting to forgo the Vigil or place the Vigil immediately prior to the Mass.   This often is done to allow more people to attend.   That said, there are many benefits to having the Vigil at least the night before the Funeral Liturgy.  This allows the family to begin the grieving process prior the liturgy providing both spiritual and psychological benefits.  Whenever possible, we should learn from the centuries of experience of our Church and hold the Vigil the night before the liturgy.   This Vigil is a key part of the Order of Christian Funerals and offers the opportunity to fill the void of loss with faith.

Deacon Marc Nestorick
Outreach Manager
Catholic Funeral & Cemetery Services of Colorado

For more information, visit our website: https://cfcscolorado.org/services/funeral/

Why Have a Christian Funeral? │ by Deacon Marc

Why Have a Christian Funeral?

Unfortunately, in the world today too many of our children and grandchildren have left the Catholic faith.   The pressures of this modern world on our young people are enormous.  It is important for all to regularly pray and ask for St. Monica’s intercession to help bring these family members back to the Church.   We have a great opportunity at funerals to help family members who have left the Church, come back to the Church when they experience the beauty in the Order of Christian Funerals.  At the same time, I all too often have conversations with individuals who have lost a parent that do not want to have a Catholic Mass for their mother or father.   At times, they do not want any part of the Order of Christian Funerals.  Often they tell me that they are no longer Catholic and don’t feel like they need the Mass or other services.  It is at that point I need to remind them of the reasons we have funerals.  I need to further remind them that the funeral is not just for the living, but for the loved one who passed away.

While there are many reasons we have funerals, there are four primary reasons the Church has funerals.  First, we have funerals to praise God.   In this time of need, we come back to the Creator and praise Him for creating us and our loved one with love.  Secondly, we thank God for His mercy and love.  It is His mercy and love that gives us hope in ever lasting life.  At the funeral, we are reminded of God’s mercy and love by giving thanks for this love and the life of our deceased loved one.  Third, we pray for our deceased loved ones’ soul.  Christ is very clear in the Gospels that not everyone will go to Heaven.  As a Church, we believe that our prayers assist people on their purification in purgatory, and their journey to the Heavenly Father.  A significant reason we have a Mass and the other stages of the Order of Christian Funerals is both for the graces the deceased receives and the opportunity to pray for the loved one who passed away.  Finally, we have funerals to fill the void of loss with faith.  When we lose an someone we love, there is a void in our life.  Too often we try to fill that void in unhealthy and potentially harmful ways.  The funeral allows us to come together as a community and  fill that void with the love of God.

While there are many other reasons we have funerals, this is why it is important to have a Catholic Funeral.  While many experience the disappointment and pain of their children leaving the faith, it is important for us to make it clear to our children, family, and friends, that we want a Catholic funeral for the graces and gifts it provides to ourselves and those attending our funeral.  One way to do this is to pre-plan your funeral arrangements in advance.  Your parish and the Archdiocese of Denver Catholic Funeral and Cemetery Services can help you in planning the various aspects of your funeral and cemetery services.  This is a beautiful gift you can give your family to help them fill the void of loss with faith.

Deacon Marc Nestorick
Outreach Manager
Catholic Funeral & Cemetery Services of Colorado

For more information, visit our website: https://cfcscolorado.org/services/funeral/

Ministry Newsletter │ March 2024

Ministry Newsletter │ March 2024

Click here to view our entire ministry newsletter.

March is Dedicated to Saint Joseph

A statue of St. Joseph with the Child Jesus at Mt. Olivet Catholic Cemetery.

The month of March is dedicated to Saint Joseph. The Solemnity of St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is celebrated on March 19th.

Just as the Roman Catholic liturgical year has a rhythm and spiritual emphasis for each season, the liturgical tradition has dedicated a different spiritual focus to each day of the week. For example, Sundays focus on Christ’s Resurrection; Mondays, the Holy Spirit and souls in Purgatory; Tuesdays, the Holy Angels; Thursdays, the Blessed Sacrament; Fridays, Christ’s Passion and His Sacred Heart; and Saturdays, the Blessed Virgin Mary and her Immaculate Heart. Wednesdays focus on Saint Joseph. So, in addition to remembering St. Joseph in a special way during the month of March, we are encouraged to reflect on his fidelity to the Holy Family and intercede on the behalf of holy fatherhood, both spiritual and biological, every Wednesday of the year.

May you have a blessed and spiritually fruitful month of March!

 

 

 

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Traditional Methods of Final Disposition – Burial and Cremation │ Funeral Facts with Deacon Marc

 

Below is a transcript the the video:

Hello and welcome to this edition of Funeral Facts with Deacon Mark.

We just finished up talking about pre planning and planning and what’s involved in planning and why the benefits are planning. Now, I want to shift a little bit and we’re going to talk about final disposition and what are the options especially through the Catholic view of, for final disposition.

We’re going to look at the traditional ways of final disposition. Some nontypical ways. We’re going to look at natural burial in relationship to all that and then, we’re also going to look non options and discuss why those are non-options.

But to get started with you’re probably like what in the world is final disposition and if you think about those words it really is about that final action that is taken with that human body and so there’s some legal sides about that as well because in most states many states there’s permitting that is required around it and so when we’re talking about final disposition in the eyes of the church you’re really looking at two traditional ways for final disposition you’re looking at whole body burial or you’re looking at cremation and those are the final dispositions that are most common.

We’re going to talk about some uncommon ones but those are the most common final dispositions and when you’re looking at those cases. In both those cases, they require permitting in order to move to that final disposition.

So, before we can bury here at the cemetery, we need a disposition permit.

Before we can have someone cremated, we need a disposition permit and what’s in that is you gotta get a death certificate. Typically, this is done by the funeral director. They send it off to the doctor. Doctor has 48 hours in order to sign off on the death certificate. Once we get the death certificate back, then, we can apply for the disposition permit to either have the burial or the cremation.

In those cases, the final disposition of the burial, the traditional burial is the burial into that place that is part of the permit. If we’re going to someone later, we need to get permitting to move that body to a different place and we really don’t want to do that but that’s where the final disposition is bearing that person in that location.

For cremation, the final disposition is the cremation and those cremated remains is the final disposition and so in those cases in the eyes of the state, you can take those cremated remains and really do whatever you want to do with them but we’ve gotta remember just because it’s legal to do something, just because you can do something, doesn’t mean it’s the right to do and so as a church, we talk about respect for the body and respect for body that’s cremated or in intact in the same way and so we do ask that cremated remains be respected and placed into a cemetery and so that is the final disposition is that is traditional as cremation or whole body burial.

We’re going to look at next time in two examples of some more ways that are acceptable but not as traditional and we’ll talk about those next time, burial at sea and also donate your body to science.

Until that edition, this is Funeral Facts with Deacon Mark.

Make it a great day.

Visit our website to learn more: https://cfcscolorado.org/catholic-teaching/

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