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Charnel House Plan Of Parish Faces Strong Opposition From Residents

Updated: August 11, 2005 05:00 PM GMT
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The plan of a parish in Seoul to set up a charnel house in the basement of its church has created strong opposition from its neighbors.

Since mid-May, when Taereung Church notified the local Nowon district office that it plans to set up a "napkoldang" or charnel house (place where bodies or bones are deposited) in the church basement, local people have held weekly protest rallies in front of the church with demands the plan be cancelled.

Due to the rallies, including one that drew 1,000 people on July 19, the district office head returned the notification to the church. On July 26, the parish filed a lawsuit in the Seoul Administration Court against that officer.

A court official confirmed that it had received the parish´s lawsuit. He told UCA News on Aug. 11 he cannot say how long the lawsuit will take because every case is different. "But before the court hands down a verdict, the two parties will have time to present their case," he explained, "and during that period, they can also negotiate with each other to solve it on their own."

Joseph Lee Seung-kook, head of the pastoral council, told UCA News on Aug. 10 that the charnel house was meant to change the nation´s funeral culture. Both the government and Church support the change, Lee added.

Since the early 1990s, Korea´s Catholic Church has recommended accepting cremation and using charnel houses to shift emphasis from burial to cremation. A napkoldang does not conduct cremations, but it does store cremated remains. Given the preference of South Koreans for cemetery burials, burial grounds now take up more than 1 percent of the country´s land, and that causes serious problems of effective land use.

The pastoral council reviewed its decision due to the residents´ opposition, Lee said, "but we decided to proceed. People must abandon their attitude toward napkoldang, often viewed as ´a site of horror´ like a dumping ground."

The 56-year-old lay leader pointed out that since the charnel house will be in the parish´s own basement, it would not harm students around the church. He added: "The local residents seem to worry because the value of their land and houses has dropped due to the napkoldang. Nonetheless, we will proceed with the lawsuit and never give up the plan, no matter what happens."

Cho Young-hee, co-chairperson of an alliance against the charnel house plan, told UCA News, "It is not about money, or the price of our land or apartments. It is about our children´s education, so most residents and protestors oppose the church´s plan." She also said the church and schools are so close to each other that the church compound can be seen from the school. "How can students study while seeing the families of the deceased mourning and crying."

"I personally do not disagree with the napkoldang," the mother of two added, "but the educational environment must be considered above all." The alliance brings together parents of students, parents´ associations of elementary and middle schools, and an emergency committee of apartments in the region.

The church is in a residential area surrounded by many apartment complexes. Near it are elementary and middle schools and a kindergarten, all close together. A two-lane main road leads to the church.

A church official says the parish began construction in 2003 when it proposed making a "multi-purpose room" in its basement but stated no plans for a charnel house. The three-story, 5,300-square-meter church was finished in late 2004. The two-story basement the parish aims to use as a charnel house can hold the remains of up to 3,202 but it has not yet been equipped to do so.

Cho said that when around 150 parents of students spoke with the pastor in mid-June, he said he would proceed with the charnel house by all means. "Many residents suspect the church has eagerly tried to establish it because it can make a profit by accepting non-Catholics into that facility," she said.

But Lee, the pastoral head, asserted that rumors of "making profits" out of the charnel house are "groundless." He insists it will serve only local people and take mostly Catholics, especially parishioners of the church but also sick seniors around the church who have no one to care for them.

An official of the Seoul Bukbu District Office of Education says that in mid-June, it sent the Nowon district office its "negative evaluation" on the charnel house being set up at the church. He told UCA News on Aug. 11 that his office thought the charnel house might worsen traffic conditions because of increased visitor traffic. It may also negatively impact students when they see gloomy-faced mourners wearing mourning cloth.

The owner of a real estate agency near the church told UCA News that since the napkoldang dispute has arisen, a few families have tried to sell their property because prices have dropped. "For a couple of months, there have been protest rallies and protest signs against what people call a ´site of horror,´ so no one wants to rent or buy houses in the area," he said. He added that the price for 3.3 square meters of land had been around 6 million won (about US$5,900) before the dispute erupted, but it is now 5 million won or less.

Joseph Kim Yang-ju, vice-manager of Seoul archdiocese´s management office, told UCA News on Aug. 10 that setting up a charnel house at parish level is up to the pastor, and his office has no plans to tell the priest what to do.

The archdiocese, he also said, has received final approval from the government to set up a charnel house in the 330,000-square-meter Yong-in Cemetery, 40 kilometers south of Seoul. He pointed out that construction of that facility began last year and it is expected to be completed next year.

Apart from the Taereung parish, he said, his office does not know how many parishes also plan to set up a charnel house, but they will experience similar opposition from neighbors because people likely view it as a "site of horror."

According to an archdiocesan official, the archdiocese has four operating or proposed charnel houses, including the one at Taereung Church. Three have not yet opened because they are still involved in litigation, and the remaining one operates "irregularly" for those who have already reserved space.

END

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