Cremation for Catholics

My family is devoutly Catholic and is totally against cremation and says the Church is against this too. Is this true?

Cremation got such a bad rap from Catholics mostly because of two moments in History:

When the early Christians were being persecuted by the Romans, not only were they killed violently but their mangled remains were also burned. This was to mock their belief in the resurrection, as burning one’s remains obliterated one’s flesh thus preventing it from rising again. This of course has been proven to be utter hogwash since we all know the power of the Almighty is way, way beyond the presence or rather lack of presence of human remains. Surely, God can resurrect the truly deserving, with or without an existing body. Don’t believe me? Just think of Joan of Arc, once burned as a heretic and now the Patron Saint of France.

Later in history, during the industrial revolution, the freemasons used cremation against the Christians for similar reasons.

Here is the teaching of the Catholic Church:

While the Church recommends that the pious custom of burying the bodies of the dead be observed, cremation is permitted as long as it had not been chosen for reasons contrary to Church teaching.

Cremated remains are to be treated with the same respect given to the remains of a human body, and should be buried or entombed. The scattering of cremated remains on the sea or on the ground, or keeping them in the home, is not the reverent final disposition that the Church requires.

Saying that cremation is evil is akin to saying that a knife is evil. It all depends on how we use it. Surely, used to kill, mangle, threaten, or destroy makes a knife seem like an evil instrument. But used to prepare food, or to heal as in surgery, the knife is actually an instrument for good. As is cremation.

In the end, it all depends on your own personal beliefs, convictions, and conscience.

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