Question: My husband and I have desire to be eventually buried together, and the best option from various perspectives would be to reuse the grave of our great-grandparents who passed away over 100 years ago. Our state government permits “lift and reposition” of bodily remains in a grave, which appears to involve opening the place of interment, lifting the bodily remains, deepening or enlarging the place of interment if necessary and repositioning the existing bodily remains to provide space for further interments in that place of interment. The ethical dilemma we are facing is this: Is it acceptable to the Catholic Church to disturb the bodies of those who have died through a process of "lift and reposition" as described above? Is it lacking charity or respect for the dead to treat their bodily remains in this fashion? — A.P., Melbourne, Australia
