|
Q. Our daughter plans to be married next year, and has this wish to be married on a Caribbean cruise ship. There will be relatively few attending, close family and a few friends, and we have learned a private room may be reserved for the ceremony. Our question is: Is it possible to have a Catholic wedding that way? We asked a local priest and he did not know. (Louisiana)
A. Yes, it is possible, but it's a complicated process. As you probably know, deacons, priests and bishops cannot validly marry anyone, anywhere, anytime without delegation. Generally that delegation is given to priests, for example, to preside at marriages in their own diocese.
But that doesn't automatically extend to marriages they might perform elsewhere. That requires special delegation from the bishop or pastor of the place where the wedding will take place.
The biggest question is, therefore, who has authority to delegate a deacon or priest to preside at a wedding at sea, which perhaps might happen in any of several dioceses, or no diocese at all? Is it the diocese where the cruise begins or ends? Or at the ship's home port? Or the diocese of the ship's registry?
Such questions may sound overly involved, but they can determine whether or not a marriage is valid in the eyes of the church.
Priests and deacons who are chaplains of an organization called the Apostleship of the Sea have certain special faculties. But not all cruises have such a chaplain, and even for them strict conditions apply.
Other questions are involved: Where will the marriage be registered? What is the status of the priest or deacon who would perform the marriage?
A number of general and specific church regulations apply here. So, in short, a helpful final answer cannot be given in a column like this.
I suggest you contact the chancery office of your diocese, either directly or through your pastor, and ask their assistance. And, if after reading this you still wish to pursue this possibility, do it soon.
Q. We are an older couple and are considering cremation after we die. Someone told us that even if we make that choice we must have a casket. Is that true? We could have a memorial Mass after cremation, right? (Wisconsin)
A. The Catholic Church urges that, even when cremation is chosen, if possible the body of the deceased should be present for all the funeral liturgies - vigil service, funeral Mass and commendation prayers after the funeral ceremonies.
When circumstances require cremation beforehand, it is appropriate that the cremated remains be present for all funeral rites, and then interred in a cemetery or mausoleum. In other words, cremated remains should be treated with the same respect given to the deceased body.
Whether or not one chooses cremation, a memorial Mass may be celebrated anytime after death and burial.
The church has no rules about a casket. To my knowledge no state requires a casket if the body will be cremated. A few states do expect a body to be shipped to the crematory in a casket or other suitable container. Funeral directors can inform you about regulations for your area.
Basic Catholic burial regulations may be found in the ritual Order of Christian Funerals; Reflections on the Body, Cremation and Catholic Funeral Rites, published by the bishops of the United States in 1997; and in an instruction on Catholic funerals from the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, also published in 1997. If you're on the Internet, you can Google information from all three documents.
Questions for this column should be sent to Father John Dietzen, P.O. Box 3315, Peoria, IL 61612.
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/Hide comment form