*2.3. The Columbarium Church as a Place for Ritual*

The Roman Catholic ritual is still relatively popular in Flanders when it comes down to funerals, as the above-mentioned figures have shown. Beyond the funeral liturgy, church policy also attaches a lot of importance to the "place" where the ritual is performed. In view of this, both taking into account the ritual symbolism of the Roman Catholic liturgy and the complex situation of religious belonging in Flanders, we believe the columbarium church has potential as a renewed place for rituals. Rather than reducing the church interior to a mere indoor graveyard or storage for urn cases, we consider its historical qualities as a (sacred) space for conservation and memorial *and* as a ritual space, which can function both for Christian and more secular rituals.

The presence of graves in the interior of the church, the wish to be buried in the house of God confirming the sacred quality of the place, has been part of Christian tradition in the past. Nowadays, columbarium churches have already become general practice in Germany as so-called "*Grabeskirchen*" or "*Gedächtniskirchen*" (transl. grave or remembrance churches), (e.g., Figure 3). Although varying in quality and not always reflecting the dual role as mentioned, they aim to re-activate the church as a gathering place for family and friends and to remember the deceased with various events. As an alternative function with a spiritual charge, columbarium churches can provide an economic model for the conservation of the building. However, and perhaps similar to the historical examples to some

<sup>3</sup> See http://www.crematie.be/cijfers.

<sup>4</sup> Also compare: https://statbel.fgov.be/nl/themas/bevolking/sterfte-en-levensverwachting/sterfte.

<sup>5</sup> According to the annual report of the Belgian Roman Catholic Church, 2019 counted 48.407 church funerals. https: //www.kerknet.be/sites/default/files/Jaarraport%20Bisschoppenconferentie%20NED%202019.pdf.

<sup>6</sup> Before, some priests and deacons had a special appointment and were available to perform the funeral rite in the auditoria and crematoria, but these official positions are all abolished. According to this statement a short moment of ritual prayer—comparable to the rite preformed at the grave—performed by a Catholic minister is still possible, but not the entire funeral rite. (Vlaamse Bisschoppen 2013).

extent, it runs the risk of "privatizing" the ritual space and the funeral ritual by charging higher prices, making the church space effectively only accessible to a privileged segment of the population.7

**Figure 3.** Grabeskirche St. Bartholomäus, Köln-Ehrenfeld (DE) 2014, design by Hans-Peter Kissler: the transformation of the interior is characterized by a central ceremonial place surrounded by columbarium walls with urn cases (photograph by Christian Schneider, © Grabeskirche Sankt Bartholomäus Köln).
