This article from Angelus tells of the the July 1, 2025, bankruptcy filing of the Catholic Diocese of Fresno, California.  The article makes this comment about the filing:

In the Chapter 11 petition — filed July 1 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District Court of California, Fresno Division — diocesan chief financial officer Cynthia Martin said that the “volume of lawsuits” puts the diocese “in immediate, dire financial distress,” with the diocese’s “total exposure … likely to exceed its assets.”

The bankruptcy filing would suggest that all assets of the diocese may have to be used or liquidated to pay for liabilities, however, the article also made this statement about some of those assets:

In a separate July 1 letter, provided in both English and Spanish, Bishop Brennan described the implications of the bankruptcy on the diocese’s cemeteries, of which there are at least five.

While the cemeteries are owned and operated by the diocese, “regardless of the Chapter 11 filing, the Diocese of Fresno will continue to own its cemeteries and fulfill its obligations to the Faithful under the terms of both its paid-in-full and financed pre-need contracts,” wrote Bishop Brennan.

Although the contracts are included in the bankruptcy schedules, the diocese plans to file a motion to assume them, and expects no objection, he said.

“Throughout the Chapter 11 proceeding, Catholic funerals and burials will continue uninterrupted as if no bankruptcy had been filed,” Bishop Brennan said in his letter, asking clients to continue their contractual cemetery payments.

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  I write this column today just to comment on what I might say of business and legal issues in the United States.  To me, it just seems that you have to take an attitude of “you just never know”.

For instance, the diocese is probably correct in assuming that a court will maintain that the church body continuing to operate the cemeteries is a good result for preneed consumers and lot owners. . .and possibly the best result for the congregations.  However, I’ve never been one to count on probable assumptions.  What if some other group puts in a bid to purchase the cemeteries out of bankruptcy or what if the plaintiffs win judgements that can only be satisfied by the sale of the cemeteries?  Who will operate the cemeteries then. . . . and, depending on the jurisdictions laws, what might happen to consumer pre-arrangements?

It’s just a cautionary statement by me that when you are in business it is best to assume that things won’t always be as you think they will be.  Things change over the years and as a business person you need to change your operations at times to “go with the flow”.

More news from the world of Death Care:

Life insurance questions seniors should be asking in today’s economy.  MSN

Cemetery faces financial strain as cremations rise.  BBC News (Great Britain)

Defense Department reviews process for handling remains of fallen warriors.  Department of Defense Information Distribution Service

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Recently a lawsuit was filed in New Jersey contending a New Jersey township used discrimination in deciding against a Jewish group that planned to establish a Jewish cemetery in the community.  You can read in this article from NJ.com that the lawsuit complaint alleges “Howell Township violated the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, a federal law that protects religious institutions from discriminatory zoning practices”.

Again, according to the linked article, the lawsuit claims that the township board’s “decision was based on unfounded fears of contamination from natural decomposition”.  It is pointed out in the article that the lawsuit also alleges “Expert testimony presented to the zoning board indicated minimal risk (of this contamination)”.

The article also states “The application included plans for over 5,400 plots, circulation aisles, parking areas, and stormwater management systems. . . . .The cemetery would adhere to Jewish burial practices, including natural burials without embalming fluid, vaults, or other chemical preservation methods.”

Tom Anderson
Funeral Director Daily

Funeral Director Daily take:  I’m not taking sides on the issue here, but it is interesting to me that the denial seems, at least according to this article,  on the fact that the fears are from “natural decomposition”.   Most people in the “natural cemetery or burial” movement believe, as is written in this 2023 article from the Smithsonian Institute’s Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, “a corpse is a natural organism that, left untreated, will be reclaimed by nature and benefit the surrounding ecosystem, explained the BBC in an article on what happens after we die. “Every species that visits a cadaver has a unique repertoire of gut microbes… [and] all these microbes mingle and mix within the cadaveric ecosystem” and eventually produce rich, organic soil.”

On the other hand, there seems to be some type of belief by many that non-natural or chemically induced retardation of decomposition is bad for the environment because of the chemicals that are used in that process.  For instance, in that same 2023 article from The Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage the following is said about the burial of embalmed bodies, “By obstructing the body’s decomposition, we harm the earth. For instance, each year, the process of embalming dumps 800,000 gallons of formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, into American soil. This toxic runoff can leach into water supplies and create environmental and health problems for plants and animals, including humans.”

I’m certainly no expert on the environmental impacts of the natural burial vs. chemically preserved burial debate.  However, I did come across this recent study on “The Impact of Environmental Health from Cemetery Waste in Middle Tennessee”.  funded by the Austin Peay State University Office of Student Research and Innovation under the 2023 Student Research Grant apparently from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

According to the abstract of the study , “The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of As (Arsenic) and formaldehyde in cemetery plots of different ages.”

Listed among the conclusions of the study were the following statements, “The study showed that regardless of the changes in embalming practices, there is a low likelihood of risk for transmission of formaldehyde and As (Arsenic) to humans from cemetery plots and to groundwater from cemeteries. . . . . The study identifies that there may be no need for caution with regard to potential contamination of waterways near cemeteries and therefore no concern regarding potential human consumption.”

My thought. . . . .if cemeteries are denied because some believe that embalming contaminates the ground and if cemeteries are denied because some believe un-embalmed bodies will contaminate the ground, what is a group that believes in earth burial to do if they want to establish a cemetery?

Related information — The Myles Standish Burial Ground.  America’s oldest cemetery as presented by Wikipedia.  This Massachusetts cemetery is where many of the Pilgrims who arrived with the Mayflower in 1620 are buried.  At one time abandoned, the cemetery has now been reclaimed and it has continued to be kept up.  Its earliest burial is recorded in 1638.

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