The Thrissur Archdiocese of the Syro-Malabar Church is planning to set up a crematorium since many churches are finding it difficult to bury the bodies of COVID-19 patients by adhering to the government protocol.
Many church cemeteries do not have the facility to bury the bodies in the depth mandated by the regulations. In some cases, parishioners had objected to burial of the body in the church cemetery.
Application
Fr. Joy Mookkan, on behalf of the archdiocese, has submitted an application to the district administration for licence to set up a crematorium. District Collector S. Shanavas has asked the officials concerned to take immediate steps on the application.
The archdiocese is planning to set up the crematorium on a one-acre plot at Mulayam in the name of the Damian Institute under the archdiocese. The rituals will be held as per Christian religious practice.
“The archdiocese has been thinking of setting up a crematorium for long. Churches in the coastal belt too face problems with burial of bodies,”said Fr. Nysson Alanthanath, its spokesperson.
“So, the facility will be useful even after the pandemic time. Though cremation of bodies is new to Christians here, it is common in other States,” he said.
