House bill would make human composting legal in Rhode Island

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PROVIDENCE — A bill before the Rhode Island General Assembly seeks to legalize new burial practices that run counter to Church teachings.
Bill HB 6045, also known as “A Bill Relating to Businesses and Professions — Funeral Director/Embalmer And Funeral Service Establishments,” was introduced by Rep. Michelle McGaw (D-District 71 Little Compton, Tiverton, Portsmouth) on March 3. The bill deals with certain new forms of disposal of dead human bodies.
Specifically, the bill sets forth regulations concerning natural organic reduction, also known as human composting, a relatively new form of body disposal in which a corpse is laid in a container filled with plant material, which facilitates the growth of bacteria that break down the body within a relatively quick period, completely decomposing it into soil within the span of a month.
The bill seeks not to limit or prohibit human composting, but rather seeks to codify into law certain health regulations surrounding the process, such as allowing individuals trained as embalmers who work for funeral homes or cremation agencies licensed by the state to carry out this practice.
It would also subject entities that carry out this practice to regular state health inspections, establish procedures for the identification of remains and procedures for cemeteries, and require funeral homes or cremation agencies to obtain official government approval.
The bill would limit access to organic reduction facilities to licensed physicians, those trained or in the process of training to become embalmers, those associated with the funeral home or cemetery, government agents and the immediate family of the deceased.
Catholic theologians assert that such methods of bodily disposal contradict the Catholic view on death and the nature of the human person, and therefore do not constitute a permissible form of burial.
In an interview with Rhode Island Catholic, Father Ryan Connors, a priest of the Diocese of Providence who serves as professor of moral theology at St. John’s Seminary in Boston, explained the Catholic view on how to properly treat the dead.
“We need to promote more reverence for the human body, not less. To invoke the preferred term of Pope Francis, we live in a ‘throw-away culture.’ Treating human bodies like waste fails to meet the basic standards of respect for human dignity.”
Father Connors went on to explain: “Burying the dead in sacred places remains the best way to demonstrate respect for the human person. For believers, it reminds us to pray for those who have gone before us.”
On March 23, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Doctrine, responding to the growing acceptance of this method of bodily disposal, published a document explaining the Catholic view.
The document began by asserting the Catholic view that God created human beings as body-soul composites. In this world, the body and soul exist inseparably, in unity. While death brings the separation of the soul from the body, Christians believe in the resurrection of the body. Christ promised his followers a share in his own bodily resurrection.
The bishops teach, “Human beings are not pure spirits like the angels. We share in the physicality of the material order. We are both body and soul. God’s promise is not that the righteous will leave behind their bodies to attain blessedness, but rather that they will be resurrected in their bodies and share in the glorification of the resurrected Christ.”
According to the bishops’ document, both the human body and the soul are worthy of respect: “Since every man and woman is a unity of body and soul, respect for the person necessarily includes respect for the body.”
It is for this reason that, while the Church allows for cremation, “[b]urial is considered by the Church to be the most appropriate way of manifesting reverence and respect for the body of the deceased.”
It is also for this reason that the Church prohibits such practices as storing ashes in the home or scattering them in a specific area.
Burying bodies in a cemetery showcases respect for the dead and reminds us to pray for the dead. Yet, many of the newer practices surrounding body disposal do not adequately reflect the Church’s view on the dignity of the human body.
In human composting, bodily remains are often scattered throughout a field or wilderness area. In other forms of body disposal, such as alkaline hydrolysis, the body is decomposed in such a way that most of it is converted into a liquid-like substance, which is then disposed of via sewage.
The USCCB notes that this illicit practice has two main effects: it does not give due respect to the bodies of the dead; and, secondly, by destroying the human body so thoroughly, it creates a sense of psychological disconnect between the living and the dead.
Dr. Gary Culpepper, a professor of systematic theology at Providence College, highlights another potential concern with the bill.
Whereas the Church’s laws once strictly prohibited cremation, recent legislation in the 1983 Code of Canon Law has allowed for cremation under certain circumstances.
Dr. Culpepper warns Catholics, however, about an important distinction within this new development in the Church’s historical praxis.
“It is insufficient to state that ‘the revised Code of Canon law permits cremation’ in response to the proposed legislation,” Dr. Culpepper noted.
He noted that the Church’s new legislation still emphasizes perennial Church teaching about the resurrection of the body.
Canon 1173.3 specifies that, “The Church earnestly recommends that the pious custom of burying the bodies of the deceased be observed; nevertheless, the Church does not prohibit cremation unless it was chosen for reasons contrary to Christian doctrine.”
Dr. Culpepper notes that respect for the bodies of the dead is something strongly emphasized in Christianity, Judaism and Islam, all of which believe in some form of the resurrection of the body. It is for this reason that allowing or accepting this practice is an attack on the views of most major Western religions.
The bill before the R.I. General Assembly also poses a broader, existential threat, he said.
Dr. Culpepper explains that this bill supports the importance of honoring the human body as a visible sign of the gift of the individual person in his or her uniqueness, which seems to be threatened when the body is treated as a mere link in a larger and perhaps even impersonal ecological chain of being.”
The U.S. bishops said that the Catholic faith teaches us that our 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 bishops said. “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.”