Church: Don’t bring home urns for Undas

MANILA, Philippines — The Catholic Church discourages bringing home urns during the observance of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day, Manila Cathedral vice rector Fr. Vicente Gabriel Bautista said yesterday.

Bautista reacted to a Facebook post of the Mandaluyong City government announcing that families are allowed to bring home the urns of their departed loved ones that are in the Ash Repository of the columbarium of the Garden of Life Memorial Park.

According to the announcement, the relatives could retrieve the urns from Oct. 22-29 and should return these on Nov. 5. 

The purpose was reportedly to lessen the number of people going to the cemeteries and give families the opportunity to show their respect to their dead relatives.

But Bautista said that even if it would only be for a short period of time, an urn that has already been placed in the niche should no longer be brought home. 

“That is why we say ‘rest in peace’. We want them to rest in the peace of the Lord, away from the noise,” he said. “The place of the dead in the cemeteries and columbaries, that place is for them.”

Meanwhile, two weather disturbances are being monitored ahead of the Undas long weekend, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said yesterday.

A low-pressure area (LPA) is being monitored inside the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR), last located at 825 kilometers east of Eastern Visayas.

Weather specialist Benison Estareja said that the LPA is unlikely to develop into a tropical cyclone in the next 24 hours.

A tropical depression has also developed outside PAR and was last located 3,185 kms east of Central Luzon.

Estareja said that the tropical cyclone is not yet expected to make landfall, affect weather conditions or enter PAR in the coming days. – Josiah Antonio