Cremation in Buffalo, NY

Cremation in Buffalo, NY

Serving Buffalo, New York and the surrounding suburbs in Erie & Niagara Counties with low cost cremation services with a prior viewing or simply a direct cremation. 

Cremation is a process that provides rapid oxidation of the body through the use of fire.

No casket is legally required for cremation, just a simple container, which is strong enough to hold and properly cover the body. This could be a box of fiberboard, pressboard, or heavy cardboard.

Most crematories require the casket or cremation container to be combustible.

Many families think that when they choose cremation, there is no way they can hold a viewing prior to the Funeral or Memorial Service. This is simply not true. In fact, we would recommend that you have a viewing of your loved one prior to the cremation. Whether this viewing is done privately with only close family present or publicly with extended family and friends, a viewing held prior to the services can make a significant difference in helping you and your loved ones in the healing process.

There are new options available to you which make it easier and less expensive to bring cremation and ceremony together. We can provide a rental casket for your loved one so that family and friends can benefit from attending a visitation with a viewing, followed by a Funeral Mass, Service or Ceremony, prior to the cremation. 

We also offer post-cremation Memorial Visitations where the cremains are placed in an urn in the funeral chapel, adorned by flowers and photographs, while a complimentary Celebration of Life DVD plays on a large screen 40" monitor. The DVD is a collection of cherished photos set to music. Photos stir our memories and our emotions, allowing us to reflect and remember. Memorial Services can then be arranged to follow the visitation either at the funeral home or at Church. 

When a loved one passes away, cost is often a factor in making difficult decisions involving whether or not to have a service that includes a viewing. We're here to help with that. Kolano Funeral Home is a low-cost funeral and cremation provider. We will save you thousands of dollars in service and merchandise charges, as compared to other large corporate owned funeral homes. We encourage you to compare. Call us anytime to schedule a free consultation.

Why choose us to provide your loved one's cremation service?

We are a 4th generation family business, not an impersonal conglomerate. Whatever your funeral wishes are, we will be honored to provide them with the utmost professionalism and personalized care. We have extremely low overhead and pass those savings on to the families that we serve, often saving them hundreds and even thousands of dollars in unnecessary expenses charged by other funeral homes.

Whether you choose to have a private or public viewing prior to the cremation, or simply a direct cremation with no viewing, we would be honored to serve you and your family. You will receive exactly the services and merchandise that you request, with no high-pressured sales tactics that many other funeral homes employ. That is our pledge to you.

Cremation Choices

After the body is cremated:
  1. The cremains can be held by the family. Some families divide the cremains into separate urns or place a portion of them into keepsake urns or jewelry and distribute them among family members.
  2. You may take the cremains in the simple temporary cardboard or plastic box supplied by the crematory and distribute ("scatter") them over land or in the Ocean.
  3. The cremains can be placed in a niche within a columbarium.
  4. The cremains can be buried in the ground in a regular plot or in a smaller cremation plot. Some cemeteries permit the burial of cremains above the pre-existing burial of a family member if there is adequate space.
  5. The cremains may also be entombed in a crypt within a mausoleum.
If you are scattering the cremains:

Some jurisdictions have laws prohibiting the scattering of remains; others require a permit. Ask your funeral director.

Be sure to ask permission if you want to use private property.

If you decide to do this however, consider what will happen if, some day you move away? There would then be no place to permanently memorialize your loved one. This is one of many reasons why a Cemetery is often the best option for the permanent disposition of Cremains.

Catholic views on Cremation

Catholic Cremation has long been a subject that is debatable. Many Catholic Churches used to frown upon this practice, but it is now allowed – with stipulations. The Bible has a scripture that states “ashes to ashes, dust to dust” which to many people means that humans came from ashes, and that is where they will return. The soul goes to Heaven, so the body really is just a vehicle for the soul, per se’.

According to Catholic belief, the soul leaves the body after death to be reunited at the end of time. The body is buried, which means it disintegrates over time. Cremation involves burning of the body in a furnace. The Catholics see the body as a holy temple, and therefore believe the burning of the body is a desecration of God’s work. They also believed at one time that burning the remains stood for a denial in the belief of resurrection.

As the Catholic Church has evolved, cremation is now permitted. This religion continues to stress traditional burials and entombment, but is not as strict as it once was. For many people, it is an affordable option when no burial insurance is taken out and finances are short. It is a meaningful way to say goodbye to a loved one, and urns that are available are beautiful and made in so many ways that memorialize a loved one that is uniquely special to that person.

In earlier times, Catholic cremation was finally accepted, but only if the body were present at the Mass before being cremated. In present times, the Church allows cremation before the last Mass. The urn can then be present for the Funeral Mass. The Church does have a few stipulations – the ashes must then either be buried or placed in a mausoleum at a cemetery. This religion does not look favorably upon scattering the ashes or keeping an urn in your home.

Decades ago, the Vatican banned cremation, but in 1963 the ban was lifted, but the cremains could not be present at a funeral mass. This option could only be chosen if the deceased denied the teachings on the resurrection of the body. However, in 1997 the Vatican decided that the cremains can be present at mass and are to be treated with the same respect and reverence as in a casket burial. To this day, the scattering of ashes is still unacceptable in the Catholic faith.
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