Consistory court catch-up, February 2015

In addition to the consistory cases summarized in this post come further examples of problems encountered with interments in churchyards. None of these was subject to judicial consideration by the ecclesiastical courts, but have been included in view of the commonality in some of the issues involved.

  • On 4 February, the Daily Telegraph reported that an interment at Nottingham Road cemetery in Chaddesden, near Derby, had to be postponed as the space prepared proved too small for the coffin, which was of normal dimensions; the widow and around 300 mourners had to return to their cars wait until the space was made larger, although the priest had to leave in order to conduct another funeral;
  • In Oxfordshire there was a recent unreported instance of a funeral, also attended by a significant number of mourners, where the priest and family had to return the following day for the interment; instead of preparing a grave so that the deceased could be buried with his wife, the adjacent plot containing deceased’s son was prepared.
  • And in our round-up on 15 February, we reported of the confusion resulting from a parish council’s response to a complaint by from a Muslim family concerning the recent burial of a Roman Catholic in a grave space adjacent to their relative. The Ministry of Justice’s explanation of basics of exhumation law resolved the situation.

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