The Catholic Church has, in the process, overcome the emotional issues related to having permanent memorials as is done in some of the traditionally Catholic countries.
From banning coffins and caskets at burial grounds to introducing outright sale of space for tombs at high prices, various Christian churches are taking to innovative ways to address the problem of scarcity of space in cemeteries.
The Catholic Church has, in the process, overcome the emotional issues related to having permanent memorials as is done in some of the traditionally Catholic countries.
A spokesman for the Jacobite group of the Malankara church said that a survey of the faithful showed that they did not want bodies to be cremated. Instead, the vault system has been widely recommended and in some cases only the vault system is allowed in the cemeteries.
He said that funeral services in the church end with prayers highlighting the temporary nature of man’s life on earth and his being made of dust. Unto dust he returns, and burial of the body is much in favour although the method of burying in plain grounds or in a family tomb is being discouraged.
The Orthodox group too has allowed its faithful to use the vault system to overcome the problem of space constraints. Some churches are learnt to be selling space for family tombs at prices ranging from Rs. five to Rs. 10 lakh.
Spokesman for the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council Stephen Alathara said that the Council had not issued any instructions regarding burial practices so far. However, he said that several parishes, adapting themselves to the new requirements, are taking to burials in vaults.
Increasing numbers are squeezing the last bit of space not only in urban areas like Kochi but also in the rural areas, says Fr. Joseph Thelekkatt, spokesman for the Syro-Malabar Church. The problem is more acute in urban areas, he said, as he pointed to the cultural and religious need of man to mourn their dead.
However, the church finds it difficult to provide space by way of tombs or memorials for their dead. A memorial is perpetuating a memory and a historic requirement too, said Fr. Thelekkatt. But space constraint has prompted the church to dissuade permanent tombs and encourage equality at the burial grounds. The church has invented methods like temporary tombs, which are opened as need arises.
The ordinary form in the Catholic Church is the burial in the ground. But the Church allows cremation as an extraordinary form unless it is not an act of denial of the faith in resurrection. There is at least a case in Kerala where a person was allowed to be cremated. It is allowed by the law of the church.
But cremation also is not a very hygienic form of burial and the procedure is cumbersome unless in an electric crematorium and the Church so far has no crematorium.
Keywords: Christian Churches, cemeteries
