U.S. bishops: New methods of body disposal go against church teaching

Two alternate methods to burial – alkaline hydrolysis and human composting – are not compatible with church teaching, according to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Doctrine.

“The doctrine committee affirms that every human being has been created in the image of God and has an inherent dignity and worth,” it said in a press release. “Furthermore, since every man and woman is a unity of body and soul, respect for the person necessarily includes respect for the body. The church considers burial to be the most appropriate way of manifesting reverence for the body of the deceased, as it clearly expresses our faith and hope in the resurrection of the body.”

The church permits cremation unless it is chosen for reasons contrary to the Catholic faith.

Director of Cemeteries comments

Mark Miller, the director of Catholic Cemeteries, said he was pleased the USCCB issued the statement.

“We are created in the image and likeness of Our God and Father. Our God is manifested to us through the incarnate word of Jesus, his Son. Through the sacraments…God has touched our bodies through water, oils, Eucharist, word, and laying on of hands – connecting us to himself, his divinity. Our bodies have become the bridge between God and us,” he said.

“I cannot imagine why people would even consider any form of disposition besides burial since it is through our bodies that God touches and speaks to us. We are reminded during this Lenten season of the crucifixion and death of our beloved Jesus. How his body was taken down from the cross, prepared for burial, and laid in a tomb – witnessed by his mother, his disciples, and his friends. Should we want any less for ourselves and our loved ones?”
Miller said there is plenty of land in Kansas and ample burial sites in diocesan Catholic cemeteries. Less than half of the cemetery property at Resurrection Cemetery in Wichita and less than half of the cemetery property at Ascension Cemetery in Bel Aire has been developed, he said.

Plenty of room in diocesan cemeteries

“We currently have hundreds of grave sites available in the developed areas of each of the above cemeteries. Along with all the grave sites we have mausoleum spaces for caskets and niche spaces for cremation urns. Besides the traditional ground graves, we offer ‘natural burial’ graves at Ascension Cemetery for individuals who do not want to be embalmed or have a burial vault.”

The bishops’ committee said the two most prominent newer methods for the disposition of bodily remains that are proposed as alternatives to burial and cremation – alkaline hydrolysis and human composting – fail to satisfy the church’s requirements for proper respect for the bodies of the dead. It evaluated the methods based on an instruction issued in 2016 by the then-Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Human liquefaction goes against church teaching

“After the alkaline hydrolysis process, there are about 100 gallons of liquid into which the greater part of the body has been dissolved and this liquid is treated as wastewater,” the committee stated. “At the end of the human composting process, the body has completely decomposed along with accompanying plant matter to yield a single mass of compost, with nothing distinguishably left of the body to be laid to rest in a sacred place.”

The doctrine committee asked the faithful to recall that the Catholic faith teaches us that our ultimate destiny as human beings includes our bodiliness. “We are therefore obliged to respect our bodily existence throughout our lives and to respect the bodies of the deceased when their earthly lives have come to an end. The way that we treat the bodies of our beloved dead must always bear witness to our faith in and our hope for what God has promised us.”