As if Consumed in the Fires of Hell
Cremation Subjects the Human Body
To Temperatures up to 1,000 degrees Celsius
For a Period of Ninety Minutes
Accelerated by Oil, Gas, and/or Propane
Cremation after Death Is an Uncatholic
And Prohibited Method of Disposing of a Human Body
"The Temple of the Holy Ghost"
By Traditional Catholic Canon Law Anyone
Who Directs that His Body Be Given over to Cremation
Is to Be Denied Ecclesiastical Burial
Cremation is an unCatholic and prohibited method of disposing of the body after death. By traditional Canon Law (Canon 1203), anyone who directs that his body be given over to cremation is to be denied ecclesiastical burial.
Cremation has long been associated with pagan customs (the ancient Romans customarily burned their dead during the most corrupt period from the Late Republic to the mid third century, when Christianity became the empire's religion) or with the denial of the Resurrection (cremation became popular around the time of the 18th-century "Enlightenment," when it was advocated by atheists and agnostics as a visual symbol of the denial of the soul's existence).
Among the Hindus and Buddhists, the practice is quite common. Since these pagans believe in the reincarnation of men, it only follows that the body is not kept as a sacred temple of God, for (as they believe) the soul will just possess another one at a different time and place of existence after its release by death, perhaps being changed into a mole, an insect, or a bacterium.
The Christian custom of burial of the dead, and not cremation, dates back to the time of Christ. In the New Testament, given that Our Lord's Body was not cast into flames, even though He died under the hands of the Romans, we have the most fundamental example of respect for the body that could be learned. Christ, Our Lord and Master, was not cremated, so neither are we ourselves allowed this condemned practice.
Given how cremation has been perverted even further by the atheists and anti-religionists in modern society, one sees the traditional wisdom of the Church. It is bad enough that the temple of the Holy Ghost be burned to a crisp at temperatures of up to 1,000 degrees Celsius for a period of ninety minutes, accelerated by oil, gas, and/or propane, but it is even worse when the ashes and bone fragments aren't even buried or inurned, but instead tossed out into the garden, the ocean, the forest, etc.
Some try to justify cremation on the basis of supposedly lower cost, but that is a specious justification. If one insists on the minimal requirements, the expense of interment (ground burial) can be kept to a minimum, nor is cremation necessarily inexpensive in comparison. If one is without sufficient means, one can always avail oneself of potter's field. For those who wish a method other than interment, entombment is an ancient Christian alternative.
http://www.traditio.com/comment/com2012.htm#201229