Human composting and alkaline hydrolysis do not satisfy the Catholic Church’s requirements for proper respect for the dead, the U.S. bishops said in a recent statement.
Death and Dying
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Suspect arrested in shooting of Los Angeles bishop is housekeeper’s husband
Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop David G. O’Connell was committed to ‘the ordinary person, not the rich Catholic,’ said Linda Dakin-Grimm, an immigration attorney who worked with the bishop. His death is being investigated as a homicide.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
The death of a good monk: Celebrating Brother Joseph’s simple and holy life
Brother Mary Joseph lay in state at Mepkin Abbey, his simple funeral liturgy soon to begin, fitting for a man who lived a simple life at the South Carolina Trappist monastery.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
Eulogy vs. homily: When should you talk about the deceased in a Catholic funeral?
When someone dies, it is only right that family and friends be given a chance to share their memories of their loved one. But the balance between pastoral care and logistical realities can be a tough one to strike.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
Covid, 9/11, Florida: I tried to find something to blame for a Jesuit’s death. Nothing stuck.
When our superior told us that Jerry Huyett had died in Florida, I realized, in a way I never quite had before, a very basic thing; maybe the most basic thing of all: Life ends.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
Remembering Father Quealy: the first Catholic chaplain killed in Vietnam
Father Michael Quealy, the first military chaplain killed in action in Vietnam, was honored on the day of his death in the Reading of the Names ceremony.
Posted inFaith, The Good Word
Why Edith Stein is the perfect saint for All Souls’ Day (and a world plagued by antisemitism)
On this Feast of All Souls, let us remember “our people,” living for God and for each other. We can live for both, and die for both.
Posted inFaith
Pope Francis on All Souls’ Day: At our final judgment, all that counts is how we loved the poor.
The Gospel teaches people how to live while awaiting death and God’s judgment, loving because he is love, Pope Francis said during a Mass at St. Peter’s on All Souls’ Day.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
South Korean bishops offer prayers after Halloween stampede kills over 150 people
Catholic bishops in South Korea expressed sorrow and offered prayers after more than 150 people died in a stampede during Halloween celebrations in Seoul.
Posted inFaith, Features
The church forbids ‘human composting’ at death. But what about ‘green’ burials?
The movement for natural burial is growing and is slowly becoming more mainstream in the United States, but the practice is as old and widespread as our species.