Kevin McGinnell
Music & Liturgy 50.3 (October 2024)
The death of any Christian is a definite marker in time, yet, in our context, the funeral is often delayed for so
long that the experience is fragmented. In recent decades, cremation has become more accepted and more popular amongst the Catholic community for many reasons, including the lack of grave space in our urban areas and, to a degree, the cost of burial. Our understanding of the person created in the image of God, however, requires us to honour the individual by the burial or entombment of their ashes, although our liturgy at a crematorium includes what parallels a committal. In the wider world, many cremated remains are left with the crematorium or the undertakers. In other instances, ashes are scattered, shared among family, made into jewellery, incorporated into tattoos or even into the glaze on a mug.
In Canada (1985) and later for the United States, indults have been granted for the Requiem Mass or Funeral Liturgy to be celebrated after the body has been cremated. The cremated remains are brought in a casket or urn by the family and placed on a table before the altar in the same space used for a coffin.
A funeral liturgy follows the usual pattern and the casket is honoured with holy water and incense as you would a coffin. After the final commendation the casket is then taken immediately to be buried, carried by the family. This has happened already here where someone has been cremated abroad. It is something we need to consider seriously for several reasons.
Liturgically, the rite is seamless and would encourage burial of ashes because there is no time delay. While
there is no necessity for any rite to accompany cremation, as it is a way of preparing the body akin to embalming
prior to burial, the rite offers possibilities. This could encourage those who currently choose a service at the
crematorium to consider a church service. We face a real pastoral problem of unchurched families choosing that
because that is all they know, whereas the person may well have been very much part of a parish community.
This would enable a parish celebration and draw the family into the church’s wider life. Practically it would
lessen the demands on the crematorium chapel for public services and permit the cremation to take place
out of hours, which would reduce cost.
There are further financial advantages in the liturgy and burial taking place as one ritual, which lessens the expense of a funeral director. Sadly, this is a real consideration for many people nowadays, especially with direct cremation accounting for about 20% of funerals in the UK. This is increasing, and its popularity will inevitably affect people for whom the church is not a priority.
The Canadian Bishops have published a fine ritual text for this: Order of Christian Funerals Supplement for
Celebrations with Cremated Remains (CCCB 2018). It outlines the rite in this way:
- Vigil for the deceased: tradition of rosary as well as OCF, at home, in the funeral home, or at the crematorium
- Cremated remains brought to the church
- They are carried in the entry procession by family or are already before the altar
- They are placed on a table covered with a white cloth
- They can be covered with a small pall, especially if the shape of the casket/urn could distract. (We will need
to become accustomed to the small casket rather than the usual coffin.) - Requiem Mass is celebrated and the Final Commendation prayed and the casket honoured in the usual way: with holy water: ‘In baptism N shared in the death and resurrection of Christ. May s/he be welcomed into the glory of eternal life.’ And with incense: ‘As a sign of respect for our sister/brother N, we let this incense rise to God, who has called her/him to share in his glory.’
- The cremated remains are carried in procession from the church to the place of burial. ‘In peace let us take the remains of our sister/brother to their place of rest.’
This needs serious consideration for our islands. It has been celebrated with no significant issues when someone has been celebrated abroad and their cremated remains repatriated. The advantage of lessening the delay between death and funeral and burial is positive pastorally and liturgically. We also need to take account of the socio-economic influences that direct cremation is having on the way people understand funeral practice and how we can encourage people to be faithful to our traditions.
Mgr Kevin McGinnell is a priest of the Northampton Diocese and former Chair of the Society of St Gregory.