text: Worthwhile points, and I hope my not mentioning every factor involved does not get interpreted as ignoring them.  I do know that many people - including those who comment at this site - make huge assumptions about Church functions that are incomplete at best and conjecture at worst.  It seems to me that you jumped the rope from  who hid the remains to who told them to do it.  No doubt you are right about the teachings of the Church via the bishops, but we should also include that the social mores of the times and he cultural taboos were squarely against unwed motherhood.  My grandparents told me of how girls who got pregnant disappeared from school, and were supposedly staying with their aunt in some other town.  And BTW - it was unwed Catholic girls who supplied Catholic adoption agencies with lots of white babies to place with infertile couples...serious motivation for keeping babies healthy and well!  Still, reports like this  sicken me.....