In the recent flurry of jarring communiqués from the Vatican, a rather important instruction may have been missed by most. Within it, one key sentence may also have been overlooked. It’s the December instruction from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith on the proper handling of the ashes of the deceased following cremation of a baptized Catholic Christian.

The Vatican Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has upheld a rule mandating that the ashes of the deceased be preserved in a consecrated place, but it also said family members could request "a minimal part of the ashes" be kept in a sacred place "of significance for the history of the deceased person."

When Amy Profenna recently met with a lawyer to update her Will, one of the questions she was asked was if she wanted to be cremated.

VATICAN CITY – Professing belief in the resurrection of the dead and affirming that the human body is an essential part of a person's identity, the Catholic Church insists that the bodies of the deceased be treated with respect and laid to rest in a consecrated place.

Growing up in Glace Bay, N.S., Trevor Tracey watched funerals pass by the windows of his elementary school and dreamed that one day he would be the man leading the procession.

Scattering the ashes of the recently departed is a rising trend in Vancouver despite the practice breaking both civil and Canon Law.

Years ago, cremation was forbidden for Catholics because those who popularized the practice did it as a way of denying the resurrection of Christ, life after death and the resurrection of the body at the end of time. Their thought was to destroy the body so that God could not resurrect it.