Catholic Church does not encourage scattering of ashes

By TWILA DECKER

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 23, 1999

The ashes of John F. Kennedy Jr., Carolyn Bessette Kennedy and Lauren Bessette were cast into the sea Thursday, under the watch of grieving family members and Roman Catholic clergy.

It was not clear whether the closely guarded ceremony aboard the USS Briscoe conformed with Catholic doctrine concerning cremation.

The church, which began allowing cremations only in 1963, prefers that funeral rites be conducted before the body is cremated. It also prefers, according to guidelines prepared by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, that the remains be treated as a body would be: buried in a grave or placed in a tomb where they can be regularly honored.

If family members insist on dispersing their loved one's remains at sea, the church prefers the remains be placed in an urn, rather than scattered. A Navy chaplain who assisted with Thursday's ceremony would not say how the ashes of Kennedy, his wife and sister-in-law were placed in the water.

"Its preference would be that the full funeral rites would take place before the cremation," said Doug Reatini, director of the office for worship at the Diocese of St. Petersburg. "The same reverence for the cremains, although in a different form than what the body would be, is what is prefered."

Kennedy was raised a Roman Catholic; the Bessette family has scheduled a memorial service Saturday at an Episcopal church.

Until the Second Vatican Council, which reformed some of the church's doctrine, the Catholic Church prohibited cremations. It saw the body as a gift from God not to be destroyed.

"It had a lot to do with the resurrection of Christ," Reatini said.

At the time, cremations also were not as common among other Christians. They often were done if the deceased did not believe in an afterlife or the deceased saw the body as a prison for the soul.

The rule was relaxed by the Vatican in part because of the scarcity of cemetery space in some countries with large Catholic populations, according to the bishops conference.

Today, about 20 percent of American Catholics are cremated, according to the conference, although burials are still encouraged by the church. When cremations do occur, the church prefers the families wait until after the funeral liturgy.

Until two years ago, the church even forbade cremated remains from being present for the funeral. That changed at the urging of U.S. bishops.

"What we see very often, especially here in the state of Florida because there are so many retirees who have plots up North, the cremation takes place before funeral rites take place out of practicality," Reatini said.

Bill Hartgrove of the National Cremation Society in Clearwater said he always recommends that Catholics speak to their local priest before making any plans.

"It often depends on which diocese you are in," he said, explaining that some allowed cremated remains to be present at the funeral even before the Vatican gave the okay. "That is why I always recommended that they get guidance."

-- Information from the Boston Globe and New York Times was used in this report.

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