Mumbai: A section of Catholics in Mumbai has written to their archbishop regarding a trend to bury corpses without coffin.
On Wednesday, the Our Lady of Mercy (OLM) Church wrote to Cardinal Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Bombay, that the practice has hurt their religious sentiments.
“In the past few months, a new practice is been followed at the Teen Petrol Pump cemetery where bodies are being buried wrapped in a shroud,” says Melwyn Fernandes, joint secretary, OLM Welfare Association, Pokharan Road-2. “This is nowhere written in the Bible nor proscribed by our archdiocese. Nor any circular has been issued by the Pope or the archdiocese office,” he added.
While Thane city has a population of over 50,000 Christians, there is only one cemetery with 60 to 70 graves at Teen Petrol Pump, Thane (west). Though a body takes 18 months to decompose, due to lack of space partially decomposed bodies are removed to make way for new ones.
According to grave digger Mahadev More, in the last one year, 12 bodies were found not decomposed due to coffins encasing them. He alleges that the joint trustee, Alwyn Fernandes, of the cemetery had asked him to wrap the bodies in shroud and bury them.
“We will soon stage a protest against the church, but before that we have taken the matter with archbishop. If this practice is not followed in other churches, why should we be forced to follow it?” he said.
Bombay archdiocesan spokesperson, Fr Nigel Barrett, said, “People have been given an option to go for a shroud or a coffin to bury their beloved. There is no compulsion.”
Asked if this practice is followed at all churches under their jurisprudence or any circular has been issued, he added, “This is an ancient practice of wrapping the body in a shroud and burying it. It was practiced when no coffins existed.”