Death & Burial

Is death in the U.S. becoming a matter of merchandising instead of a holy thing? Plenty of U.S. clergymen think so, as they watch the profitable travesties of the funeral parlor take over more and more of the function of the church. The phenomenon bothered tweedy, pipe-smoking Alvin L. Kershaw when he was a theological student at the University of the South, and bothered him still more when he took over Holy Trinity Episcopal Church at Oxford, Ohio (pop. 6,944). Five years ago, in his second year at Holy Trinity, Rector Kershaw persuaded his vestry to approve the creation of a Church Social Relations Commission to study the problem and make a report.

"The Humane Thing." The twelve-member commission, mostly faculty members of Oxford's Miami University and Western College for Women, understandably got little help from the undertakers. But parishioners told them a great deal--about undertakers failing to display their more modest caskets, about cemetery associations lobbying in state legislatures for laws to make cemetery burial even of ashes compulsory, about high-pressure salesmanship of cement vaults and airconditioned caskets as "the humane thing."

Off the presses last week was the commission's final report, a preliminary draft of which has already been circulated among Holy Trinity's parishioners and sent to clergymen throughout the country. After examining "present-day funeral practice," the commission came to the conclusion "that the historic depths of Christian meaning are increasingly lost to the American, even the regular churchgoer, and that without the interpretation and dramatic support of the simple rites of the church, to receive whatever solace and comfort is available in the despair of death, more and more people look to the funeral director as pastor and priest.

"A new set of commercial symbols . . . and rites are rapidly replacing the church, the candles and the Psalms. These are the plush carpet, the exalted open casket, the heavily scented banks of funeral flowers, the dim, indirect light, distant recorded syrupy music replete with chimes and vox humana, all centered in the new dominant architecture of almost every community, the funeral home and chapel . . .

"The dominating concern for tiptoed entrances and exits, the emphasis on leakproof caskets, and the display of the physical remains artfully improved by cosmetics and specially tailored casket apparel, represent essentially a reversal of Christian belief and its candid committal of the material body to ashes and dust."

Cosmetology & Canisters. The commission's research turned up such a sign of the times as a crematory that delicately refers to ashes as "cremains." Other promotion-minded funeral homes were going in for uniformed casket-bearers and parking directors, cosmetology service by specialists interested in "achieving perfection in preparing the deceased for exhibition," and caskets equipped with a built-in canister for a vellum record of the accomplishments of the deceased.

The report concluded with a recommended parish procedure for burials, urging that they be "as simple as possible." Highlights:

P:"Call your minister immediately. Families are urged to invite him to share in the planning of the burial preparations and services."

P: "Embalming is not necessary except in delayed burials and except when casket is shipped by common carrier for non-local burial . . ."

P: "The simplest casket possible should be secured" and brought closed into the church immediately to wait for the service, "thus relieving the family of the distressing practice of open-casket viewing." P: "The burial service is a regular congregational service in the life of the church family . . . Since church services are integral centers of our parish life, fees to clergy, choir, organist or for use of church building for burial service must not be considered."

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