Question:
I went to My friend's Father-in-law's funeral yesterday.
He was cremated prior to the Mass and his ashes were were at the church. Prior to the Mass my friend spoke to me quite concerned as the priest had inform the family half an hour earlier that the Mass would not traditional Mass of Christian Burial as he was cremated. And further more cremation was not allowed and he would be reporting this to the bishop.
My friend is not catholic but was quite concerned for her mother-in-law who quite shaken by all of this.
My friend to came to me for advice and unfortunately I was not able to the provide her with much council on this matter.
ten years ago when my father was dieing I specifically spoke to our priest to confirm that cremation did not contravene Church law. (my father's wishes were to be cremated as he did not wish to burden my mother with the great costs of a traditional burial. ) At that time the priest informed me that there was no problem with this . When my father passed away he was cremated and a traditional Mass of Christian Burial was held with the ashes at the church. His ashes were buried at the church cemetary. As were my fiend's father-in-laws'.
My questions are have rules changed in the past ten years or did one of these priest have things wrong or is this something that can be influence by the priest personal perspectives.
It would help to have this answer as my mother is in poor health and we will be faced with these decisions again. Her desire is to be cremated and be buried in the same plot as my father. I would like to be able to honor this wish.
Dear Jennifer:
Your friend is wrong. Cremation has been allowed in the Catholic Church since the 1960s as long as cremation is not meant as a statement denying the final resurrection of the body. The cremains, however, must also be buried in a cemetery, not left on the mantle or scattered in the sea or the backyard or anywhere else.
It was not until 1997, however, that the Holy See granted permission to U.S. bishops to allow funeral Masses in the presence of cremated remains. Before that what usually happened is that that the priest could perform the Rite of Committal at the cemetery. At a later date the parish could then celebrate a Memorial Mass for the departed person.
The reason for the change was a practical one. Given the mobility of people today it is highly likely that one will die while away from home on a trip, or one may wish to have the funeral (instead of a Memorial Mass) and burial in their home town. The problem is that transporting a body in a coffin across the country can be too expensive for many people. Cremation is a cheaper and more practical option. Thus, the Church in her compassion and understanding allowed for a funeral Mass in the presence of the cremains.
Like many of these compassionate gestures, some people abuse it. For example, the Church allows people to fulfill their Sunday Obligation on Saturday evening Vigil Mass. This was a compassionate gesture to allow people who must work on Sunday an opportunity to still celebrate Mass. But, how many people are present at the Saturday Vigil Mass who are doing so just so they can have Sunday to themselves. Well, the Church says that Sunday is the LORD'S DAY, not a personal mental health day, or a day to fix the roof day, or exclusively let's go to the beach day. Sunday should be reserved for God and family.
Anyway, the point is that I think the motivation to allow the cremains to be present at the Funeral Mass was about the issue of practical considerations of someone who as died at a distance from where the funeral is to take place.
In situations where the distance issue is not an issue, I think that one should celebrate the Funeral Mass with the corpus present. Then the body can be cremated later before burial.
I know, I know... that will mess up people's schedule since it will be easier to go from the Funeral Mass to the cemetery than to come back for the burial in a couple days. 
Anyway, technically, one can be cremated and the cremains may be present at the Funeral Mass. So your friend may not like it this way, but it is permitted.
God bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary
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