Diocesan representatives sign recommendation on inculturated burial rite
Church jurisdictions in the Java region and in Lampung province in Sumatra are calling for Catholics to be educated in funeral rites since many are unclear about them. Such education should teach skills on drafting pastoral guidelines and a guidebook for funeral liturgy, catechesis on funeral liturgy, and inculturation, which can be done based on common study of local funeral traditions. The recommendations were the result of a November 25-27 meeting at the Hening Griya Pastoral House in Baturaden, in Central Java attended by about 100 dioceses and archdioceses representatives. According to Carmelite Father Bosco da Cunha, secretary of the Indonesian Bishops’ Conference’s Commission for Liturgy, Catholics “still have many simple questions [about funeral liturgy],” he said. Father Paulus Supriya from Semarang archdiocese said the scattering of ashes at sea is frequently asked about. “[The Church] does not accept this practice because it does not honor the bodies of the dead. Burial at sea for the Church is acceptable only if the ashes are in an earthenware pot which is lowered into the sea,” he said. Father Yohanes Suratman, a Church legal expert from Purwokerto diocese, quoting from Canon 1176, said that in Church funeral rites, “the Church prays for the spiritual support of the dead, it honors their bodies, and at the same time it brings to the living the comfort of hope.” Related Report: Forum to address burial rites