THE LATE movie actor Eddie Garcia was cremated Friday morning (June 21), his ashes scattered on Manila Bay, in accordance with his death wish. His partner of 33 years, Lilibeth Romero, never told media why Eddie had expressed preference for cremation.
A TV clip replaying passing scenes on Eddie’s seven decades in the movies ran short captions, one of which said he had “no religion.”
If he were a Catholic, his priest might have asked him to reconsider his death wish. Cremation has not yet gained full Vatican approval.
I remember a newspaper quotation attributed to Fr. Jerome Secillano, executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP): “We believe as Catholics that even the remains of those who passed away should be respected.”
A Vatican decree signed by Pope Francis, however, advices cremation adherents not to keep the departed’s ashes at home, or preserve them in a container, or spread over land and sea. Instead, the ashes should be kept in a proper place in a church or part of a cemetery “which has been set aside for this purpose.”
The decree does not say that cremation disrespects the deceased. On the contrary, it’s in keeping with the Bible verse (Genesis 3:19), “Dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return.”
A number of Catholic celebrities have expressed outrage over the Vatican decree. Actress Whoopi Goldberg, who played a nun in Sister Act, once hollered on TV, “You can’t dictate to people what is sacred.”
Goldberg’s mother had been cremated and her ashes scattered “all over the house.”
The late Panay News publisher Danny Fajardo, a Jehovah’s Witness, was cremated in September 2018, the urn containing his ashes stored in a columbarium.
My late brother Efren was cremated five years ago. To this day, the urn containing his ashes occupies a space in his house.
Long before he succumbed to multiple organ failure, my brother had asked his wife to have him cremated, knowing that what would take centuries for the flesh and bones to completely turn into dust could be short-cut by the crematory burner in three hours.
The Church’s wishy-washy behavior vis-à-vis the disposal of human cadavers stems from a 1917 entry in the Code of Canon law banning Church funeral for the cremated.
In 1963, the Vatican lifted the ban but did not encourage cremation. It was only in 1983 when the revised Canon law explicitly allowed cremation as second choice of final disposition for dead Catholics.
The history of cremation dates as far back as 25 BC in Rome. The crude way then called for burning the remains over ignited firewood.
In the process of modern-day cremation, the deceased (with all garments and jewelry removed) is placed into the cremation chamber lined with fire-resistant bricks. Next, the chamber door is closed to initiate the burning process at 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit. After the cremated remains are cooled, they are swept from the chamber and placed on a work area. Bone fragments are placed into a cylindrical processor and further crushed into small, uniform fragments. The cremated remains, weighing between four and 10 pounds, are placed in an urn selected by the family.
The proponents of early crematories were Protestant clergymen concerned with hazardous health conditions around cemeteries.
There are religions that advocate cremation. The Hindus and Buddhists have all been embracing cremation, believing that it’s the soul, not the body, that survives death in a different form.
Orthodox Judaism disallows cremation. However, the fastest-growing Jewish group called “Reformed Jews” now practice cremation, in effect lifting an old taboo. (hvego31@gmail.com/PN)
