After reading Fr Julian Cassar’s very interesting article on cremation in the US, I thought readers might be interested in how these things are done in the UK, where I worked as a priest in the Church of England for nearly 40 years.

In many cases, everything takes place just as it would with a burial. The body is brought in a coffin to the church, where the funeral Mass or other funeral service is celebrated.

Afterwards, the body in the coffin is taken to the crematorium for a very brief service of committal lasting about five minutes, at the end of which the coffin is either left in full view of the mourners or, at their choice, is hidden from view by curtains.

The ashes are available a day or two later for burial or scattering in consecrated ground.

This can be done either by a priest or by a member of the crematorium staff, with or without the presence of the family.

Non-Catholics sometimes seem to find comfort in keeping the ashes at home in an urn, although this raises the question of what is finally to be done with them.

For families without any Church connection (who form the majority in the UK), there is also the option of a ceremony entirely at the crematorium, which may contain prayers and hymns or be completely non-religious.

On a lighter note, Fr Cassar’s information that the ashes are referred to quite seriously in the US as ‘cremains’ is worthy of Evelyn Waugh’s satire on US funeral customs The Loved One with its cemetery ‘Whispering Glades’! Death too has its humour.