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some folks, like the New York State Catholic Conference, are against it
Against the idea personally, or actively trying to prevent it from being an option for anybody? Kind of an important distinction.
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Do you really need to ask? You know who we’re talking about here.
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It’s legal in California, but I believe won’t be available until after 2028… don’t know why. My wife wants this, and I expect she’ll hold out. I’m giving my cadaver to UCLA Medical School, which I grant is less poetic.
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As I got scolded for being cynical about Christianity last time I posted, I thought I’d give it the benefit of a doubt this time. Color me shocked that it wasn’t warranted (and yes, I know not all Christians are Catholics, but this time nobody can tell me they’re a tiny fringe cult).
Nothing makes me madder than members of a religion trying to legislate their beliefs onto others. If they don’t want to get composted when they die, nobody’s forcing them to. Yet they’re so arrogant, so completely unable to even imagine that there are people who don’t share their beliefs or bow to their authority, that they feel perfectly comfortable and justified trying to dictate how other people are allowed to handle their own bodies, even once those bodies are dead. Fuck. Them.
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Intersstingly, dumping a deceased loved ones’ body at sea is perfeclty legal. There are basic regulations on where a body can be dumped and what can be attached to it… Seems like an excellent option for a family memeber who loves to fish.
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Just northeast of Bellingham is a green cemetery. My daughter’s boyfriend’s father is buried there. They give you the option of a wooden casket (with no hardware, nails, or screws, like what are used for Orthodox Jewish burials), or a natural fabric shroud. They sandblast your name into a large river stone as a marker, and you’re allowed to plant flowers over the grave site. I think it’s remarkably civilized, and am considering it for myself, as the area where the green burials are located is very pretty.
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I guess I should clarify that when I said “you know whe we’re talking about here” I was directing that specifically at the Catholic Conference, not Catholics in general. Catholic Conferences are made up of the most hard-core folks in the organization and very often take positions that don’t reflect the attitudes of typical members of the religion, who by-and-large don’t care at all about this kind of thing. Kind of like how most Catholic families are not personally against birth control (and usually use some form of it themselves) even though the official church position is against it.
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Was recently looking at similar options in Australia. Was surprised to find the docs you need to sign include acknowledging that the medical school is under no obligation to accept your body. Apparently they get offered far more bodies than they’re able to use, so they reject most of them, meaning you still need to make backup plans for disposal of your carcass.
Also found a forensic school that accepted bodies to carry out tests on how bodies decay in the wild. The catch with that one was that their experiments only involved the squishy bits. If you are lucky enough to have your body accepted, you still have to make plans for disposing of the bones, because when their experiment was finished, they returned all the bones!
I guess there’s no such things as a free mulch.
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Wow, interesting information capped with a good joke. See you at the Algonquin round table!
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