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Disposition Decisions, Part IOver the last decade or more, state legislatures around the country have considered legalizing alkaline hydrolysis as a method of disposing of human remains. If you don’t know, alkaline hydrolysis involves dissolving the body in lye and flushing the resulting “soup” down the sewer. The bones do not dissolve, and are put through a blender just like bones after cremation. The proponents of alkaline hydrolysis argue that it is environmentally responsible since it takes less energy than cremation and uses less land than burial. But another motivator is that no air quality permitting issues arise with alkaline hydrolysis, so a funeral home in a residential neighborhood would be able to offer alkaline hydrolysis but not cremation.
Some have argued that since the end product – bone – is just like cremation, Catholics should accept alkaline hydrolysis. But when alkaline hydrolysis has been proposed at the state level, the state’s Catholic conference typically weighs in against the practice. The California, Missouri, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Texas, and Wisconsin State Catholic Conferences, as well as the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, have all opposed the use of alkaline hydrolysis. In 2011, Donald Cardinal Wuerl, then Archbishop of Washington and chairman of the Committee on Doctrine of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), judged that alkaline hydrolysis was “unnecessarily disrespectful of the human body.” In 2018, Archbishop Carlson of St. Louis advised Catholics “to avoid alkaline hydrolysis until another suitable means of disposing of the liquid remnant can be established.”
But there are many more options available to Catholics than are typically considered. Often, Catholics want a burial that is faithful, affordable, and environmentally responsible. These are important priorities. In Part 2 of this article, I will suggest five choices faithful Catholics can make that are not often considered in the United States. But here, we will take a closer look at these three priorities.
Three Priorities
Faithful
Catholics are called faithful when they seek to make choices informed by, and consistent with, their Catholic faith. This includes choices about burial practices. So, for example, even if a faithful Catholic harbors a desire for having his cremated remains scattered in the water hazard at the 17th hole on his favorite golf course, he has heard the Church teaching forbidding scattering, and knows that he can be denied a Catholic funeral if he makes those arrangements.
The Church teaches that burial, rather than any other way of disposition, is preferred, for two reasons. First, because it shows the highest regard for the body. Second, burial testifies most clearly to belief in the resurrection of the body. When we review recent formal teaching by the Church, we see that cremation is allowed, but only grudgingly: the faithful should “refrain from cremation and not discontinue the practice of burial except when forced to do so by necessity” (Piam et Constantem, 1963). And, “The Church continues to prefer the practice of burying the bodies of the deceased, because this shows a greater esteem towards the deceased” (Ad resurgendum cum Christo, 2016). By choosing burial, the Catholic “eschews meanings that can be associated with mummification or embalming or even with cremation. Burial recalls the earth from which man comes (cf. Gen 2:6) and to which he returns (cf. Gen 3:19 and Sir 17:1), and also recalls the burial of Christ, the grain which, fallen on the earth, brought forth fruit in plenty (cf. John 12:24)” (Directory On Popular Piety And The Liturgy, 2001). Today, only burial and cremation are mentioned in canon law – not alkaline hydrolysis, not composting, not mummification, not cryogenic storage.
Affordable
Most faithful Catholics are price sensitive, and want affordable burial options. This is not because they are faithful or Catholic, but because they are human and need to buy groceries and pay rent with limited income. Sometimes price sensitivity can be exaggerated – “Don’t spend money on my funeral,” someone might say, “I want to leave more money to my kids.” But marking the transition from this world to the next with a funeral Mass is significant for the deceased, since prayer is the only way for us to help the departed. And the rites of the Church assist family members and loved ones in the grieving process. Like weddings, birthdays, baptisms, and graduations, funerals merit some sort of extra spending because they are special. We’ll consider some choices that preserve or even enhance the significance of burial rites while also offering some cost savings.
Environmentally responsible
Finally, faithful Catholics care about our common home and consider the environmental impact of their burial choices. How much weight should we place on this? Simply put, care for creation is part of our faith. Ever since God set Adam in the garden, mankind has been charged with the stewardship of creation. Stewardship stands in contrast to mere exploitation. Recent papal teachings, going back at least as far as Pope Saint Paul VI, have warned about the “ill-considered exploitation of nature” (1971). Pope Saint John Paul II taught that in making choices that impact the environment, “humanity today must be conscious of its duties and obligations towards future generations” (Centesimus Annus, 37). Acknowledging the human impact on the environment, Pope Benedict XVI noted that “the deterioration of nature is closely connected to the culture which shapes human coexistence” (Caritas in Veritate, 2009). Pope Francis echoes these concerns and proposed “an integral ecology, one which clearly respects its human and social dimensions” (Laudato Si’, 2015). So Catholics ought to include considerations of “future generations” when they make choices that impact the environment. And there is no doubt that our burial practices impact our common home.
Not only does the Catholic faith encourage reflection on sustainability, but such considerations can lead to more affordable burial practices.
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About the author
Damian Lenshek is Director of Cemeteries for the Diocese of Madison.
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