Louisiana Monks Go to Court to Sell Their Caskets
Robert Barnes, Washington Post (May 30, 2012)
Not very long after God told some at St. Joseph Abbey that the way out of financial hardship might be selling the monks’ handcrafted caskets, the state of Louisiana arrived with a different message.
In August 2010, I posted some articles and information about an intriguing legal case in the great state of Louisiana. The case involves a group of Benedictine monks being told by the state of Louisiana that they are not allowed to sell their handcrafted wooden caskets. Robert Barnes excellent article in the Washington Post explains both the backstory and the litigation’s most recent developments.
2 replies on “Live Free or Die…in a Hand Crafted Benedictine Monk Casket Part II”
Yeah, he really over-did it in the video with the “unholy alliance” line. He lost me there.
I know it may not be true, but the state & local government of Louisiana has always seemed rather shady to me (see Huey Long).
“Unholy alliance” might have better been stated as the fox watching the hen house. It’s funeral directors on the state Funeral Board who want to shut down the monk’s casket business so that funeral directors get all that money.
But shutting down the monks simply sends money out of state for funeral consumers who want certain or less-expensive caskets.
Funeral consumers in Louisiana can get on the internet and order a casket from out of state. AND a Louisiana funeral home must accept that according to the Funeral Rule.
IJ is interested in the case because the current law limits the casket business in Louisiana unfairly. One shouldn’t have to go to embalming school to learn how to (make or) sell a casket. It’s just a box.