Turning tide towards natural burials in Thane

In early December last year, Father Joshua gave a homily on the delicate matter of natural burial and its environmental benefits, especially in our space-starved city. And to his surprise, many of the parishioners at St John the Baptist church in Thane were very accepting of the idea. So much so that parishioners from neighbouring churches requested that he visit to deliver the same sermon, and all the funerals he officiated in that month involved shroud burials instead of using coffins.
“Obviously we want to give our best to our loved ones who’ve passed away, putting them in the costliest coffins and garments, but there are environmental consequences. And to find out about all this from a priest was good so that you get to know the religious background alongside the scientific reason,” said Bonifas D’Souza, a long-time parishioner at St John the Baptist. Father Joshua thought it important to note that “Jesus wasn’t buried in a coffin, but in a shroud, with coffins only beginning later on to transport bodies.” And while there appears to be a slow shift toward natural burials, the pressing need for it is far graver.
When Father Joshua overlooked the opening of temporary graves filled in 2013, he was shocked to find many bodies as yet undecomposed. On average, it usually takes somewhere between 8 months and 2 years for a body to fully decay. But Father Joshua has recently come across a body from 2007 that hasn’t still. “The bodies aren’t decomposing fast enough and you can’t bury someone on top of that. There’s no place, what do you do? You have to bury somebody somewhere,” he said.
This growing lack of burial space due to delayed decomposition is a serious problem, admits Father Nigel Barrett, spokesman for the archdiocese of Bombay, citing the example of Our Lady of Lourdes church in Orlem, Malad which had to stop burials for a year due to this very issue. In a desperate bid to reuse space, “the government has made most of the churches’ graves temporary, so that only the bones are later stored in permanent niches,” explained Father Joshua.
While this remains a looming problem for parishioners of St John the Baptist church, whose abutting graveyard has around 375 graves for about 80 deaths a year, the neighbouring Teen Petrol Pump cemetery shared by five parishes in Thane is fast-approaching the need for new burial grounds.
So a shroud burial is one way to ensure a quicker turnover. “ There is no benefit to a coffin,” stated Father Joshua. “Thirty million trees were cut in America, that’s a lot. And for what? Why are we killing something that’s alive for something that’s dead?” He was quick to add that soil quality also benefits from a natural burial. High-end clothes like silk and nylon, as well as embalming the body, hinder decomposition, and come ill-advised by Father Joshua, as does using a lot of concrete to build a gravestone.
“In light of the Pope’s encyclical on protecting the environment, we would say that natural burials are the preferred option, though not a compulsion for anyone,” said Father Barrett. Adding, “However natural burials have started. Many people have seen the value of it. I do see that this is something that will catch on.”
He stresses the need for respectable etiquette when a shroud burial is performed, such that the common coffin is lowered down in a dignified manner, to lead to its greater acceptability. Although Father Joshua is yet to face any direct opposition, finding that even an undertaker he had spoken to about this approved of the idea, despite it being bad for business.
“Burial with a shroud is not a new concept, it has been around for quite some time and it’s a very Indian thing. It’s how burials are normally conducted in other faiths. The coffin is a very European concept. Yet people are very sentimental when it comes a death in the family and understandably so,” stated Father Barrett.
This issue is more divisive among other Christian communities, like the Association of Concerned Catholics (AOCC) whose secretary, Judith Monterio “is personally in favour of natural burials, but refuses to endorse it as a compulsory community decision”. On the other hand, AOCC’s Melwyn Fernandes is strongly against the move, stating, “Our religion doesn’t approve, we need a coffin. Muslims use a cloth.”
He’s not alone in his disapproval. Our Lady of Mercy Welfare Association, of which he is a member, has penned a letter to the Archbishop of Bombay expressing their concerns. Pointing to the call for natural burials, the letter claims that this “smacks of discrimination and is hurting the sentiments of the Christian community of Thane. The poor are forced to wrap and bury the dead while the rich and famous are allowed to use coffins.” It goes on to demand an all-encompassing directive for natural burials in the interest of fairness.
Finishing strong, it states, “On one hand land belonging to the Church and the Trust are illegally sold to the builders, thereby creating a scarcity, while on the other hand the Christian community of Thane is being deprived of legitimate right to have a decent burial for their deceased members.”