Connecticut latest state to consider ‘human composting’ amid Catholic opposition

CNA Staff, Mar 8, 2024 / 12:10 pm

Connecticut is the latest among several states to consider legalizing the controversial practice of “human composting,” a method of burial that the U.S. bishops have said fails to respect human remains in accordance with Catholic teaching. 

The measure under consideration in the state Legislature, H.B. 5354, seeks to “authorize the natural organic reduction of human remains as a final disposition of such remains,” a practice known as “terramation.” A public hearing for the bill is scheduled for Friday of this week.

The process of “human composting” involves placing a deceased’s body in a vessel or receptacle, after which it is covered with organic materials such as wood chips and straw and then allowed to decompose. The body is then broken down into what one human composting company calls a “nutrient-rich soil,” which loved ones are permitted to dispose of as they see fit. 

The Connecticut law under consideration would permit such facilities to operate in the state and would stipulate how they must operate. The legislation includes rules such as the directive that the decomposing receptacles must be “thoroughly swept” after bodies have been composted inside of them. 

A similar bill last year failed to advance in the legislature. State Rep. Christine Palm, who sponsored both last year’s legislation and this year’s bill, told the Connecticut Examiner this week that the measure represents “a new model for funeral parlors,” one that offers an “alternative to the existing ways we have of disposing of a human corpse.”

If the bill becomes law, Connecticut will become the seventh state to legalize human composting after Colorado, Washington, Oregon, California, New York, and Vermont.

Catholic teaching stresses respect for bodily remains

The Catholic Church as a whole does not have an official teaching on the composting of human bodies. But the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) last March issued a statement reiterating the Church’s preference for burial of the deceased and stating that newer methods — namely alkaline hydrolysis and human composting — do not show respect for earthly human remains. 

“In recent years, newer methods and technologies for disposition of the bodies of the deceased have been developed and presented as alternatives to both traditional burial and cremation,” the USCCB’s Committee on Doctrine wrote at the time. 

“A number of these newer methods and technologies pose serious problems in that they fail to manifest the respect for last remains that Catholic faith requires,” the prelates said. 

“At the end of the human composting process, the body has completely decomposed along with accompanying plant matter to yield a single mass of compost,” the bishops said, noting that the composting process leaves “nothing distinguishably left of the body to be laid to rest in a sacred place.”

Palm, the Connecticut state representative, argued on Thursday that claims of bodily disrespect regarding human composting are “absurd on the face of it.” 

“When I was being raised as a Catholic, I got ashes every Ash Wednesday, and was told ‘Remember, man, that you are dust, and unto dust you shall return,’” she told CNA.

“This is returning us to the dust as promised,” she argued. “It is the most respectful way to treat a human being.” She argued that the Catholic Church was “opposed to cremation until the early ’70s” and that “it is time for them to update their thinking.” The Vatican first explicitly allowed cremation for Catholic burials in 1963.

State Rep. Tom O’Dea, meanwhile, said none of his constituents have voiced any support or desire for the measure. “I don’t understand the need for it; I don’t know anyone who wants to do it,” he said. 

The idea of human composting, O’Dea said, conflicts with his Catholic faith. “It’s not the proper way we’re supposed to honor our remains,” he said. 

He further disputed the environmental benefits of the practice. “My understanding is there’s a CO2 component to it, because cremation creates carbon,” he said. “And my response is, there’s a whole lot of ways to address carbon without having human composting.”

O’Dea said the measure seems unlikely to pass with what little time lawmakers have left. “In Connecticut we’re in a short session,” he said. “I don’t see it passing in Connecticut this year. That doesn’t mean they’re not going to bring it up again, but I don’t see a strong desire for it during an election year.”

In 2022, the California Catholic Conference raised objections similar to the U.S. bishops when that state moved to legalize human composting that year.

Kathleen Domingo, the executive director of the California Catholic Conference, said at the time that the use of a body composting method originally developed for farm animals creates an “unfortunate spiritual, emotional, and psychological distancing from the deceased.” 

In addition, she said, the process “reduces the human body to simply a disposable commodity.”

Catholic opposition has also been raised in the state of Maryland, where a measure introduced last year sought to greenlight the use of “natural organic reduction” in state crematorium facilities.

The Maryland Catholic Conference said in a statement last year that the human composting process “reduces the human body to a disposable commodity.” 

“The practice of respectfully burying the bodies or the honoring of ashes of the deceased comports with the virtually universal norm of reverence and care towards the deceased,” the conference said. The proposal is reportedly coming before the Legislature again this year.

(Story continues below)

The Connecticut law, meanwhile, stipulates that human composting be available in the state no later than 2026.