"I need to buy an expensive cremation for my loved one."
There are no state or national laws requiring a special casket for cremation. Usually, it is left to the policy of the crematory. Cremation caskets can cost as much as you want to spend, or as little as $100 for a cardboard container.

"Cremation means I can't have a real memorial service."
You can have all the services one finds in a "traditional funeral." You can arrange to have the service in your church, synagogue, or place of worship or at the funeral home. You can have the body present before cremation or the urn containing the ashes after the cremation.

"I am Catholic, so I cremation is out of the question."
Not anymore. Pope John Paul II and the College of Cardinals now permit Catholics to use cremation as a way of final disposition of the remains. Talk with your priest.

"If I have my body cremated, my family will have no place to go and mourn."
You can purchase a niche for your ashes in a cemetery mausoleum. Many churches (particularly Catholic, Episcopal, and Orthodox) have columbariums where members' ashes are kept.

Our culture is now learning how to talk about the "last taboo": death. There are many ways to resolve the disposition of the last remains issue. Cremation is more acceptable now than ever before.