Technology to assist watch Christian funerals online

Grabbing the power of technology and implementing it in daily life, Christians in Chennai have figured out a way to include entire family members at funerals, even if their physical presence is absent.

The Madras Cemeteries Board will soon start online telecast of funeral services, a move seen as keeping pace with the times, since several kin of the deceased stay too far away to make it to the ritual.

"We've taken a decision to this effect. We’re negotiating with Imax to help us with online telecast. We'll extend this service to our members next month," said MCM member Bosco Alangar Raj.

Raj said the board would charge a fee for family members abroad to register to view a funeral online on the board's website.

"We will be launching this service within a couple of months. When we announced the proposal there was overwhelming support from the Christian community," said Raj.

"Globalisation," says Bosco, "has taken Indians far and wide. Back home, when someone dies, the body has to be kept for three or four days till the close relatives arrive."

"For those who live and work in distant countries, it's very difficult to reach even after three days. So, watching the funeral services either live or deferred is a matter of consolation and convenience. That's where this service becomes relevant," quoted TOI, Bosco saying.

The live telecast services which will be broadcasted in the website www.madrascemeteries.com will be available to anyone who login into the funeral info section which contains the videos with the names of the deceased.

"To access, friends and relatives just need to click on the names concerned," Bosco explained.

MCB, the management body of Christian Cemeteries in Chennai, enables orderly burial of individual Christians of all denominations in accordance with their rituals.

Previously it was known as the Madras Cemetery Committee which came into existence in 1956.