All right. Let's do this thing. 888-914-9. We'll start with Brian as promised.

My mother is taking my father's ashes to Glacier National Park. She originally wanted to scatter them

across his favorite meadow there, but our parish priest alerted us to the church's rule about

having to bury ashes.

So now we've been looking into whether, you know, what rules there are about ash burial,

but we haven't been able to find anything.

And can you please explain why the church requires ashes to be buried and what specific rules there are about how to go about doing that?

Sure.

Why don't I begin by quoting the U.S. bishops conference on the proper disposition

of bodily remains. Quoting here from 1st. Corinthians 15, beginning of verse 20, but now Christ

has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since

death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead came first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a human being,

the resurrection of the dead came also through a human being. For just as in Adam all die,

so too in Christ shall all be brought to life. Enlightened by the deceased or faith in the resurrection

of the dead, the church has always taught that we must respect the bodies of the deceased. Every human being has been created in the image of God, that's Genesis 1,

and has inherent dignity and worth. Human bodilyness is an essential aspect of this image and likeness,

for through the body, the human person's spiritual nature manifests itself.

Since every man and woman is a unity of body and soul, respect for the person necessarily includes

respect for the body. And this is a quote here from Gaudium at Spez from Vatican 2.

Being a unity of body and soul, humanity concentrates in its

physical dimension the elements of the material world which reach their peak in the human

and raise their voice and free praise of the Creator. Women and men may not therefore despise

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