"Human Composting" and Catholic Teaching
Could natural organic reduction be a corporal work of mercy?
The other day I was listening to an episode of the podcast What Next: TBD that talked about the recent rise of human composting (or, more clinically, “natural organic reduction”) as a means of burying the dead. The guest, Eleanor Cummins, has an interesting article on the subject that follows both the recent development of the practice as well as the particular experience of one woman, Rachel Gerberding, whose deceased mother went through this process.
Most interesting to me is that Cummins addresses the spiritual dimension of the question (somewhat in the article, moreso in the podcast) about this form of funerary practice (for example, she notes that Gerberding’s mother was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and hymns from that tradition were played during her interment).
Pointedly, Cummins writes early in the article that the Catholic Church is part of the “opposition” to the expanding legality of natural organic reduction, saying it had described the practice as “more appropriate for vegetable trimmings and eggshells than for human bodies.” It’s worth noting that this quote comes from a memo (which she links to) by the New York State Catholic Conference, not from the Vatican or the Pope. Pithy quotes aside, the core point within the NYSCC’s memo is this:
Like many faith traditions, the Catholic Church’s reverence for the sacredness of the human body and its dignity arises out of concern for both the body’s natural and supernatural properties. It is therefore essential that the body of a deceased person be treated with reverence and respect. A process whereby human remains are composted and scattered “in a designated scattering garden or area in a cemetery” (bill language) fails to sufficiently respect the dignity due the deceased.
Given the novelty of natural organic reduction, it’s difficult to say clearly whether it does necessarily run afoul of “reverence for the sacredness of the human body and its dignity.” Thus in light of the NYSCC’s opposition, it may be helpful to look at Catholic rules around cremation as a way forward.
In 2016, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith published the instruction Ad resurgendeum cum Christo, which deals generally with burial but more specifically with the question of cremation. The first two paragraphs focus on Christian belief in the resurrection of Christ and how, through baptism, Christians join in Christ’s death and resurrection. (Perhaps this is what the NYSCC has in mind when referring to the body’s “supernatural properties”).
On this theological basis, the instruction turns to longstanding Christian practice of burying the dead in sacred places, arguing that this practice (1) conveys belief in the resurrection of the body, (2) upholds the inherent dignity of the body as an integral part of the human person, especially given that baptized persons “have become temples of the Holy Spirit,” and (3) it “encourages family members and the whole Christian community to pray for and remember the dead.”
It is in light of these concerns that the instruction provides guidelines for cremation. The key statement is here:
When, for legitimate motives, cremation of the body has been chosen, the ashes of the faithful must be laid to rest in a sacred place, that is, in a cemetery or, in certain cases, in a church or an area, which has been set aside for this purpose, and so dedicated by the competent ecclesial authority.
In this way, the cremated remains of the deceased are to be treated in the same way that the bodily remains of the deceased would be: complete burial in a sacred space. By doing so,
The reservation of the ashes of the departed in a sacred place ensures that they are not excluded from the prayers and remembrance of their family or the Christian community. It prevents the faithful departed from being forgotten, or their remains from being shown a lack of respect, which eventuality is possible, most especially once the immediately subsequent generation has too passed away. Also it prevents any unfitting or superstitious practices.
Here the instruction is responding to particular concerns around common practices with cremation: scattering the ashes, distributing portions of ashes to various family members, or keeping the ashes in an urn inside the home. All of these are rejected (with very rare exception for the last example). It seems this is partly in order to avoid some sense of scandal, as scattering is opposed “in order that every appearance of pantheism, naturalism or nihilism be avoided.”
By following the guidelines around cremation, it seems that natural organic reduction too would be an acceptable form of burying the dead. While examples from Cummins’ story often include using the composted remains in one’s garden (which is perhaps comparable to conserving ashes in an urn at home) or in distributing them to various family members, these are not necessary practices following NOR. The same rules that prohibit scattering, distributing, or conserving ashes could reasonably be applied to composted remains.
There are of course differences between cremation and natural organic reduction—the physical processes are different, they have different environmental effects—but I don’t see these as having any necessary relevance to human dignity. With respect to interring the remains, the most significant different would be the size. The average remains of the human body after cremation are around 4-7 pounds. It can fit in an urn, it can be easily placed in one spot on sacred ground, etc. According to Cummins article, the composted remains are “several hundred pounds.”
Even at this size, there would be no obstacle to burying the deceased’s remains in a sacred place without scattering. Indeed they would surely fit within a standard cemetery plot, duly marked by a gravestone that provides a place for family, friends, and the community to pray for the deceased and for “their tombs have become places of prayer, remembrance and reflection.” It is even possible that, should natural organic reduction become more common, one could imagine cemeteries, or sections thereof, that are created specifically for the interment of composted remains, perhaps with memorial trees to mark them.
Each year at Ash Wednesday, as we step up to receive the mark on our foreheads, we are typically told “remember you are dust, and unto dust you shall return.” In its way, natural organic reduction brings the literal character of this even more to the fore. As much as it might be novel way of burying the dead, it is not in principle opposed to Catholic belief in the resurrection of the body or of the dignity of the human person. As such, if chosen and pursued in the light of faith, then natural organic reduction can be a corporal work of mercy.