Monks Fight For Right To Sell Caskets
When monks in Louisiana started selling caskets three years ago, the state told them to put their business on ice.
According to theTimes- Picayune newspaper, the monks in question are from St. Joseph Abbey near Covington, La. and were sent a cease-and-desist letter from the state for selling cypress caskets made in their wood shop, because their operation did not meet stringent state law. The law required that anyone selling “funeral merchandise” be a licensed funeral director.
But the monks took their case to court, and for the moment at least, their business is still alive.
U.S. District Judge Stanwood R. Duval ruled the law unconstitutional, allowing the monks to continue their work of making and selling caskets, but now a panel of federal appellate judges will hear arguments June 7 on an appeal of that decision.
The Louisiana Funeral Directors Association filed an amicus brief with the court on behalf of the state funeral board, claiming the law was constitutional because it made sure that the public dealt with qualified professionals during a time of grief.
Though it officially took no sides in the case, the Federal Trade Commission also filed an amicus brief stating it “consistently has opposed laws that prohibit persons other than licensed funeral directors from selling caskets or urns.”
Scott G. Bullock, the lawyer representing the casket-selling monks was pleased with the the initial court’s decision.
“We think that Judge Duval’s decision was very well reasoned and followed precisely the correct legal standard,” Bullock told The Times-Picayune. “We are very hopeful the court frees — once and for all — the monks to sell these simple wooden boxes to parishioners and other Louisiana consumers who want them.”
According to the St. Joseph Abbey website, the monks have been making caskets for many years for select persons. The effort to market the caskets on a wider scale is to “support the needs of the abbey and to help maintain its communal life and apostolates.”
