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Going green
Local cemetery is first Catholic one offering the option
by Joe Kohn of The Michigan Catholic
Published December 12, 2008
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Joe Kohn | The Michigan Catholic
Fr. Charles Morris, administrator of Mount Carmel Cemetery in Wyandotte, stands on a new section to the cemetery, part of which will be set aside for environmentally friendly "green" burials. |
Wyandotte Fr. Charles Morris, pastor of St. Elizabeth Parish and administrator of St. Patrick Parish, is fond of preaching that human beings are "part of creation, not apart from creation."
Now, those who want to reflect that truth in a physical way have the option of choosing a "green burial" for themselves or loved ones at Mount Carmel Cemetery, which is overseen through St. Elizabeth Parish.
Green burial is a natural process by which a deceased person is laid to rest without embalmment, entombment, or the use of non-biodegradable materials. Mount Carmel Cemetery recently became the first Catholic cemetery in the United States certified by the Green Burial Council, a New Mexico-based nonprofit that certifies cemeteries and funeral homes nationwide. The cemetery is considered a "hybrid" because it also continues to facilitate traditional burials.
"We are a part of the earth," says Fr. Morris, who also is administrator of Mount Carmel Cemetery. "We go back into creation. It makes sense for us to do it that way. It's how it's been done throughout all of human history."
Green burials include the use of only shrouds or biodegradable coffins, natural landscaping such as native grass and plants, and natural grave markers.
Because bodies are not embalmed, the burial typically has to take place within a couple days of the death.
Mount Carmel cemetery recently developed 2.5 acres it had purchased in 2003. About a quarter-acre of the land will be designated a green burial area. Over time, if demand merits more of it be used for green burials, more of the land will be set aside.
Green burial
What is it? An environmentally friendly form of burial without the use of formaldehyde-based embalming, metal caskets, and concrete burial vaults.
Who offers it? Mount Carmel Cemetery in Wyandotte is the first Catholic cemetery in the United States certified for green burials by the Green Burial Council.
Why choose it? In addition to its earth-friendliness, Fr. Charles Morris, administrator of Mount Carmel Cemetery, points out that it's a natural way to deal with death and to acknowledge the human body's place within God's creation.
Isn't it odd? Actually, green burial was the most common practice until the late 19th century only then did metal caskets, concrete burial vaults and embalming come into frequent use.
For information: Visit www.greenburialcouncil.org. |
Jim Alexander, sexton of Mount Carmel Cemetery and a parishioner at St. Elizabeth, said the green burial section of the cemetery will be visibly different than the rest of it which is decorated with a variety of tombstones dating back to the 1800s.
"It's still new, so we're working on different types of grasses," Alexander said. "We're going to border off the area." Alexander said, for the sake of families who use the cemetery, he's glad Mount Carmel is adding green burial.
"Everybody is going to have an option here," he said.
In the past two years, green burials have become popular across the country generally among a population of die-hard environmentalists. As a result, this year the Green Burial Council saw its membership of death care providers multiply from just a handful of cemeteries and funeral homes to more than 200 including 26 funeral homes in Michigan.
Upon learning that no other Catholic cemetery in the country has offered certified green burials, Fr. Morris set out to change that, and perhaps change some perceptions along the way.
"There is no more appropriate way to honor our Catholic Christian tradition of Resurrection faith than by fitting it into a natural cycle of death and re-birth, where we honor both our loved ones and God's good Earth," said Fr. Morris, who plans himself on being buried green. "And while some may regard this form of burial as odd, let us not forget that Jesus was laid to rest in a shroud without embalming or a burial vault."
Indeed, Fr. Morris continued, green burial though never regarded as such has been the common way for Christians to have been buried over the last two centuries. Only in the past hundred years or so have people been embalmed, and have caskets been designed so as to preserve the body.
Joe Sehee, executive director of the Green Burial Council and also a Detroit-area native who grew up at St. Peter Parish in Harper Woods, said it's fitting that a Catholic cemetery adopt the concept.
"It provides a way for us to, more than anything instead of impeding the natural process get in sync with people being born, dying and being reborn," Sehee said. "We've had some of these rituals co-opted. This is a sign of people saying, 'We want to take them back.'"
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