Who would have thought that death, funerals and burials could give rise to such an entertaining conference of the Ecclesiastical Law Society? Speakers accustomed to meetings of the National Association of Funeral Directors, the Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management and the Churches Funerals Group were well aware of the comedic potential, as well as the serious business, of death. It would be impossible to capture in writing all that was discussed but a key theme uniting the contributions was the need for more national, sociologically aware and confident engagement by the Church on issues relating to death, in which the Church remains a major player.
In a witty, part-personal, part-legal and part-historical reflection on his engagement with issues around death, Bishop Geoffrey Rowell's opening address, as ‘the lead Bishop for death’, set the conference tone. Professor Douglas Davies took the exploration into the fields of sociology, ritual and liturgy, considering the implications of the rise in cremations from zero in the late nineteenth century to the current rate of 75 per cent. Developments include the hope of future resurrection being replaced by retrospective identity and places of remembrance, psycho-social attachment to loss and the retention of ashes as portable reminders. He argued that the power of the emotional to turn ideas into core values should not be underestimated and that, far from being postmodern or individualist, much of the population still seeks common narratives and values around death. The role of the NHS and funeral directors in promoting these narratives was significant. Professor Davies also considered the growth of woodland burials, perceived to be more ecological, attached to place rather than ‘upsetting’ graves and free of established religion, even though there are consecrated woodland burial sites, illustrated later by a film about Barton Glebe and the Arbory Trust.
Dr Sandra Millar, head of the Funerals Project, spoke unashamedly of the funerals market in which the Church of England remains a key player, conducting approximately one-third of all funerals. While this represents 3,300 funerals per week, as against 6,000 humanist funerals per year, she warned against complacency. The Church too often fails to communicate adequately; myths to be dispelled include the belief that ‘church funerals cannot be personal’ and what a church funeral entails by way of religion. Within the Church there are significant missional issues to be addressed about enumerating church contact via occasional offices, pastoral follow up and aftercare. For example, while All Souls services are valuable, the point at which families are often grieving most are times such as Christmas, Mothering Sunday or Father's Day and Valentine's Day. Some basics, including availability and punctuality, also need to be addressed. While people appreciated the vicar's services, the size of the Church of England's funeral profile means that mistakes loom larger than faux pas committed by smaller providers. Other missional issues include responsiveness to changes in the funeral scene, flexibility about where funerals and memorial services are conducted and creating space for people to talk about death, through initiatives such as GraveTalk.Footnote 1
Frank Cranmer provided an overview of the current workload of the Churches Funerals Group. This includes fees and funeral costs, shortage and variable availability of burial space, post-mortem certification after the Shipman enquiry, differential systems across the England/Scotland border and the lack of ‘joined-up’ government, with issues around death spread across four different departments. The scene then moved to Hamlet as Chancellor Rupert Bursell QC explored doctrinal issues underlying funerals and burials for suicides and the unbaptised through the circumstances of Ophelia's death in Act 5, scene 1. He argued that, while the issue of suicide is before General Synod, the burying of those who are unbaptised raises similar questions of doctrine that should be properly addressed by appropriately authorised liturgy. He also queried the discussion of Christian burial in Re Blagdon Cemetery [2002] Fam 299, (2002) 6 Ecc LJ 420 and whether, in setting out the doctrine of permanence, the Court had acted ultra vires.
Dr Joseph Elders, Major Projects Officer of the Churches Building Council provided an overview of the Council's archaeological concerns, which are divided into monuments, natural features and ecology above ground, and human remains (which raise issues about ‘more than bones’) below ground. He pointed out that, as the Church's role is to bury people, finding stray bones is an occupational hazard; the Church has liberty simply to re-bury them. Yet, the doctrine of permanent burial gives the Church power to preserve significant aspects of the natural landscape and a role in protecting remains from speculative investigations such as major ‘celebrity projects’.
The role of the churchyard in stewarding heritage was also among the issues covered by a team from Lee Bolton Monier-Williams, registrars to five dioceses. They considered re-use of churchyards where full but not closed, maintenance of churchyards, extensions of church buildings over churchyards and possible relaxation of rules about monuments. Finally, Dr Julie Rugg's presentation on churchyard management challenged the Church to take an active role and national perspective in discussions about the urgent need for more burial space. The fact that not even local authorities have a duty to provide burial space has led to current projections of running out of graves in a decade or so.
The talks provided much material for the workshops to address and plenty of food for longer-term reflection. Last thing on Saturday night Mark Hill QC was seen crafting a large sheaf of handwritten notes into a conference summary for Sunday morning. He called for facilitative not oppressive funeral law, retaining residential rights of burial as a Church of England hallmark, and commended GraveTalk and funeral project initiatives. His concluding salutary anecdote about the wrong music at the crematorium (‘Smoke gets in your eyes’ instead of ‘Every time you say goodbye’) sustained the bittersweet notes of funeral humour mixed with urgent and serious missional issues. As with all good funerals there was a thanksgiving for the life of the Society in the form of a poignantly valedictory keynote speech from the outgoing chairman, Bishop Christopher Hill.
