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Crypt of All Souls – Funeral Facts with Deacon Marc

Below is a transcript the the video:

Hello and welcome to Funeral Facts with Deacon Mark.

We have started these series by first looking at the right of Christian Funerals and we did a couple podcasts on that. We then did a series on cremation and now we’re going to start a third piece with it our third series and talking about the ministry programs we have here at Catholic Funeral and Cemetery Services of Colorado.

First of all, we are a ministry.

We are part of the Archdiocese of Denver and so we have several ministries that we make sure to help fulfill dead. We have the Crypt of All Souls which we’ll talk about today, next time we’ll talk about precious lives and then, we’ll talk about two groups; care for those that can’t afford a funeral and also care or our veterans and how we help support the veterans who want to be buried in the Catholic Cemetery

So that will be our three series but today, we’re going to talk about Crypt of All Souls and go right from cremation into crypt of all souls. One of the things we talked about in cremation is that the body should be placed in a Catholic Cemetery and we have people that can’t afford that or different things and so, we have what we call the crypt of all souls.

It’s a crypt where we place on a monthly basis through a committal service, cremated remains at no cost to the family and this could be done for a wide variety of reasons and biggest reason is people have just paid for the cremation and all those different pieces and they can’t afford the the private niche or the private burial. So, we do offer the Crypt of All Souls.

We offer the Crypt of All Souls and not only to people who pass away recently but often times, we’ll get people who are cleaning out grandma’s house and they’ll find cremated remains in there or they will be at a yard sale or different places and find cremated remains and so we take all those cremated remains into our care at no cost anyone.

On the third Wednesday of the month, we have a deacon that comes in and we take those cremated remains. We take them to the crypt where they’re going to be laid to rest and we perform the right of committal for those individuals that are being laid to rest there and so they have that committal that people would have if they were being buried in a cemetery and so it’s a beautiful, beautiful process.

It helps people take that opportunity to have their loved one in the cemetery. It also provides for the respect of the person and so if you’re interested in the crypt of all souls, if maybe you have cremated remains in your house or know someone who does, please give us a call and we’ll be happy to help you connect you with how to have that loved one placed in our Crypt of All Souls.

That is this week’s Funeral Facts with Deacon Marc.

Make it a great week.

For more information about the Crypt of All Souls, visit the following link: https://cfcscolorado.org/mission-programs/crypt-of-all-souls/

Cremation and the Catholic Holy Mass – Funeral Facts with Deacon Marc

Below is a transcript the the video:

Hello and welcome to this week’s Funeral Facts with Deacon Mark.

We’ve been doing a series on cremation, and we talked about is cremation permitted in the Catholic Church. We talked about do’s and don’ts of cremation. Today we’re going to address our final question and that is, can you have a funeral mass if you’re cremated?

The basic answer to that is yes. But let’s go into a couple details of it.

First of all, if you’re going to be cremated it is preferred that the body be present for the mass. So, the idea being you have the vigil, you have the mass, then you have the cremation and then you place the individual into a cemetery.

So that is the preferred way. There’s a lot of spiritual and psychological benefits to it. There’s a benefit to your family, seeing the body there, being present there, seeing the body at the mass, receiving communion and all that with the body presence. So that is the preferred, it is permitted to have the cremated remains present.

So, you can have the cremated remains present instead of the body, but it’s preferred to have the body. Now People ask, well, why would you not have the body?

Having the body present is a little bit more expensive because there’s transporting the body, caring for the body. You need a casket, all those different types of things. So, the preferred is the body present but it is permitted to have the cremated remains there.

If the cremated remains are present the mass and the committal are very similar except for a few minor things that a lot of people wouldn’t even notice. The biggest one that people probably would notice is there’s no pall placed onto the cremated remains we place a pall on the casket reminding us of the white garment we receive at the baptism and that is connected to dying and rising with Christ and so we put the pall on the casket to remind us of our baptism and the connection to the baptism. If the cremated remains are there, we don’t do anything as far as putting the pall on there and all that. So that’s the biggest piece.

The piece that most people wouldn’t notice is there’s some little minor changes in the prayers that are said. But other than that, it is a funeral mass as everything else would be.

And so, we’re looking at yes you can have a funeral mass if you’re cremated preferably with the body present but if not still have that mass because we want you to have graces of that mass as you go on your journey to the heavenly father.

This is Funeral Facts with Deacon Mark.

Have a great week.

Catholic Cremation Dos and Don’ts – Funeral Facts with Deacon Marc

Below is a transcript the the video:

Hello and welcome to this week’s funeral facts with Deacon Marc.

If you remember back to our last session, we talked about cremation and we talked about is cremation permissible? and permitted within the Catholic Church? and the answer was: It is permitted, it’s still preferred to bury the body, but it is permitted, and you can go back to that video series to talk about all the different reasons why and what the church teaches about that.

So today what we want to look at is what are the do’s and don’ts with cremated remains? Essentially the bottom line of all that is we do what we do with the human body, and we don’t do what we don’t do with the human body.

All of that is grounded in an overriding principle of respect for the body whether the body’s intact or cremated there’s a respect for their body as a creation of God, created God’s image and in many cases someone who’s been baptized, received communion, received Christ body blood soul and divinity in communion with our Lord and savior.

There’s an overriding principle that we want to respect the body whether the body has been left intact and buried or whether the body is cremated.

So, what do we not do?

We don’t spread the ashes and we don’t make the ashes into things. There’s a variety of reasons why we don’t do those things beyond just the respect for the body. I was recently a couple years ago with a first or second grader who lost grandma she was given a necklace with grandma’s cremated remains within and she lost it, and she was devastated and wasn’t there she lost necklace she lost grandma.

We out of respect for the body what we do ask is that the cremated remains to be placed in a cemetery there are multiple reasons for that, respect for the body, security of the remains, giving you a place where you can go and visit your loved one, and finally putting someone into the cemetery provides for psychological and spiritual transition in the grieving process.

It’s very important there’s many different options available we’re going to talk about the ministry we have later about the crypt of all souls where we inter cremated remains but that’s a whole other podcast. So today we’re talking about the do’s and don’ts of cremated remains we do what we do with the body we don’t do what we don’t do with the body we don’t scatter we don’t make them into things and place them in a cemetery.

That is this week’s funeral facts with Deacon Marc have a great week!

For more information about CFCS Colorado’s cremation services, visit https://cfcscolorado.org/services/cremation/

What the Catholic Church Teaches about Cremation – Funeral Facts with Deacon Marc

Below is a transcript the the video:

Hello and welcome to Funeral Facts with Deacon Mark,

Excited to be here with you today, we’re going to talk about a topic that we get a lot of questions about and that is cremations.

I want to talk about cremation first and foremost and be very clear as to the approach we’re going to take and talking about cremations today because when you bring up cremations, you have people all over the place. Some that feel very strongly of cremation should occur. People that feel strongly of cremations shouldn’t occur.

We’re not going to go into what should or shouldn’t happen but really stick to what DOES the church teach about Cremation? And so there’s three pieces that we’re going to go through today we’re going to answer the question;

  • Does the church permit cremation?
  • How do you care for the ashes?
  • What happens at mass with regards to cremated remains?

Those will be the three topics we’re going to talk about but for today we’re going to start about with the question that we get all the time is that does the church permit cremation?

So the answer to that is yes, the church does permit Cremation. Since 1963, the Church has officially permitted Cremation and in the last couple years, they’ve given some great direction on helping us understand the why behind Cremation and so there’s two documents always helpful to learn a little bit about why the church teaches what it does, and so there’s two documents that I really encourage if you have questions about why does the church teach this, and what we’re going to talk about today.

I’d encourage you first and foremost to go to a document that was put out by Pope Francis in 2016, it’s instructions on regarding the burial of a deceased and the conservation of ashes of cremated remains and so that was put out in 2016 and the Vatican does a really nice job of explaining some of the background behind how we should care for a body whether it is a full body or whether it is cremated.

Just recently back in March the American Bishops put out an amazing document on the proper disposition of the bodily remains and so that one also goes into some great detail talking about why does the church teach what it teaches. Really would encourage you to look at those two and we’ll provide some web links for those as well.

So, the church does permit cremation but it’s very clear, we need to be very clear about it, Permits cremation, but the preference is always a bodily burial and so you might be asking why is that the case and so let me quote from what the American Bishops put out in the proper disposition of the bodily remains.

They wrote, “The church considers burial to be the most appropriate way of manifesting reverence for the body of the deceased. As it is clearly an expression of our faith and hope in the resurrection of the body. While the church permits cremation unless it is chosen for reasons contrary to the Catholic faith, the preferred method is burial”

There’s a couple key things within that.

One is a cremation is permitted but two that full burial of the body is what is preferred out of reverence for the body and also expression of faith in life everlasting and in the resurrection. There’s an interesting statement within that it says that the cremation is permitted as long as there’s you’re not doing it choosing it for reasons contrary to the Catholic faith.

So what is that mean?

You’re not doing you don’t want to do cremation to say hey “I don’t believe in the resurrection so I’m going to cremate my body” that’s not accordance with our faith and that would be a reason to say we shouldn’t really do the cremation because you we do believe in the resurrection that is a basis of our faith.

The idea being is that the cremation is permitted but still for a lot of different reasons spiritual psychological reasons for those that remain behind, the bodily burial is the preferred. The other piece that they wrote is the body is not something that is used temporary by the soul as a tool and that can ultimately be disregarded as no longer useful.

Jesus Christ has promised that one day at the final resurrection, the souls of the dead will be reunited with their bodies. Jesus himself did not leave his body in the tomb but rather rose from the dead with his own body.

Christ rose from the dead with his body and all. For that same reason as an expression of our faith in the resurrection. Burial of the body is what is preferred.

So, to answer this week’s question, is Cremation Permitted?

It is permitted. But the burial of the whole body is preferred.

Gave you two documents that the church has written. There’s another book that outlines his teachings and are the history of death and beliefs of Christianity around death and burial? That is a Scott Hahn book, Hope to Die is another great resource you can use to learn a little bit more about it.

So, That’s this week’s Funeral Facts with Deacon Mark,

Make it a blessed week!

Other Resources:

Presentation of the Instruction Ad resurgendum Cum Christo regarding the burial of the deceased and the conservation of the ashes in the case of cremation:
https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2016/10/25/161025b.html

U.S. Bishops’ Doctrine Committee Issues Statement on the Proper Disposition of Bodily Remains:
https://www.usccb.org/news/2023/us-bishops-doctrine-committee-issues-statement-proper-disposition-bodily-remains

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