By Ferdinand G.Patinio
A senior prelate said that
cremation is becoming popular among Filipinos.
Retired Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz said the reason why many people are choosing cremation over burying their loved ones in the cemetery is because it is more convenient and less expensive.
“It is becoming more convenient to go to a columbarium, where the ashes are deposited, instead of going to the cemetery with the traffic,†he said in an interview.
In the cemetery, the problem is also space.
“There is less and less space that’s why they are now trying to put up this multi-leveled burial sites up to 14 layers, but how do you visit your dead in the 14th floor if there are no stairs?†he added.
Cruz noted that cremation is also cheaper and easier.
‘When the body is transferred from one country to the other, instead of the whole body being transferred, it’s easier and much cheaper to transfer ashes,†he said.
The popularity of cremation, he said, is also the reason why some churches now have columbariums.
However, he said that cremation is not popular especially among Filipino Catholic prelates.
Cruz said that a bishop is usually interred in the burial ground of the cathedral of a diocese.
“It’s a very established custom that in all cathedral churches there’s a burial ground for bishops at the back of the altar and that is where they are placed,†said the prelate.
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