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Tanapag Public Cemetery—really public?
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Posted on Nov 03 2005
Recent Tribune articles about the allotment of additional land for the Tanapag Public Cemetery has triggered my memory of a recent event. Earlier this year, a person attending our church died. Born, reared, and initially trained as a priest in what he called “The Mother Church,” he then trained to be a priest in an Orthodox church. My request for him to be buried in the Tanapag Public Cemetery was rejected. The reasoning was not due to space; rather the deceased was “not in communion” with “The Mother Church.”
My question: If the Tanapag Public Cemetery is truly “public,” then why should anyone “not in communion” with a particular religion be denied access to a peaceful resting place in a public cemetery? Part of the “success story” of the CNMI is our multiplicity of race, nationality and creed. Over decades these traditions (including delightfully different food!) have nourished and enriched our lives. However, living in a “majority culture” does not mean others are right or wrong—only different.
If we are a society seeking to be inclusive while respecting and honoring differing cultures and traditions, why must we be so separated in death? Current burial practices means those who work and study together; those who wash our clothes and sew our garments; those who repair our cars and prepare and serve our food in eating establishments; those whose language and passports are different—these and many more appear unwelcome to “live” with us in death.
Land space may be a problem, but if our government can accept and accede to hundreds of private poker parlors disgracing the landscape, surely there is room to provide and guarantee usage of public land in which people of all faiths—or no faith—can rest together in eternal peace. And that should include the Tanapag Public Cemetery!
Rev. Ewing W. Carroll Jr.
Saipan
