COLUMN-BARIA*
Bishop Larry Silva wasted little time. On Sept. 15, the same day Gov. David Ige signed Act 022 (20), he delivered the news “with great joy” to Hawaii’s pastors.
What’s to be joyful about during a pandemic? A new law that will allow Hawaii churches to build columbaria, public structures for the keeping of cremated remains.
With mortality on people’s minds, this is probably an appropriate time to ponder the significance of this development.
“Act 022 (20) amends Hawaii’s current law regarding cemetery and funeral trusts to allow non-profit religious institutions to feasibly construct and properly manage a columbarium within their property or place of worship by providing niches to members,” the bishop explained.
The diocese has been working quietly for the past year and a half to make this happen.
Parishes will be able “to provide a quality continuum of spiritual care for your parishioners, while allowing multi-generational families to be laid to rest together and cared for in their chosen place of worship,” Bishop Silva said.
It will be “a wonderful program,” he said. Details will follow in the next few months.
From the days of the catacombs, Christians have shown their respect for the dead by designating sacred places in which to lay them to rest. Burying the dead is one of the corporal works of mercy.
In its “Instruction on Burial of the Deceased” the church teaches that “burial in a cemetery or another sacred place adequately corresponds to the piety and respect owed to the bodies of the faithful departed who through Baptism have become temples of the Holy Spirit.”
It further explains that “burial of the faithful departed in cemeteries or other sacred places encourages family members and the whole Christian community to pray for and remember the dead.”
These are some of the reasons the church does not permit the scattering of ashes.
With the passage of the new law, you may soon have the opportunity for your ashes, or those of your loved ones, interred in a blessed place on your parish grounds.
The church where you prayed weekly, and perhaps where you were baptized and married, is a natural place for your family and friends to gather to remember you and pray for you.
Bishop Silva said that the diocese’s endorsement of the law was based on “our collective desire and commitment to care for the afterlife needs” of parishioners.
Not all parishes will have the space or facilities to build a columbarium, which may consist of a wall, a room or a separate building. But many do.
In a 2019 survey of Hawaii’s 66 parishes, 17 expressed “probable” interest in building one, 23 said “maybe.”
The bishop also noted an economic plus for parish columbaria. Interment there should cost less for parishioners than a commercial burial. A columbarium will “help prevent local families from incurring financial and emotional hardship in caring for their loved ones in their afterlife,” he said.
It could also provide some income to the parish.
You will be hearing more about parish columbaria as the program develops. This is the first Hawaii Catholic Herald column on the topic and a means to introduce you to the diocesan point man on this new ministry, Keith Cabiles, a young, talented permanent deacon who is also the diocesan chancellor and archivist. He will be taking over the writing of this column.
*A working title for this column about columbaria.
