Friday, September 23, 2011

Bishop Pardy's Cremated Remains to be transferred

Tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. in the St. Joseph Chapel on the second floor, Father Mike Zunno will gather with the family of Bishop James Pardy (d. 1983) to offer Mass as the urn containing his cremated remains is escorted to Cheong Ju, Korea for reinterment.

As a point of clarification from the initial blog on this subject (Aug. 9, 2011), the Pardy family was not involved with the decision to cremate. When Fr. Dougherty received the request from the Cheong Ju diocese to have the bishop's remains exhumed and transported back to the diocese he founded, Fr. Dougherty phoned the family and got their permission. The topic of cremation did not arise.

As the project unfolded, the Society realized there was a huge amount of paperwork, permissions and expense involved to transport human remains across international borders, so it was decided that cremation would best facilitate this process. Regrettably, the family was not informed of this and only learned of it by reading Knollnews. The family asked that a clarification be made, stating they had only given permission for the exhumation and transferal of the remains and were not consulted or involved with the decision to cremate.

Maryknoll sincerely apologizes for any hurt or confusion this may have caused.

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