When U.S. Army veteran Charles Hunton attended an American flag retirement service — which involved a massive fire to burn hundreds of flags — he needed to leave midway through the service because of the smoke pollution.
“I had to leave — I was choking to death,” Hunton, a parishioner of St. Michael Church, said in a recent interview.
That’s when Hunton began thinking of an environmentally-conscious way to reverently retire American flags, he said.
His idea became a reality this summer with the help of Scout Mick O’Dae, along with St. Michael Scout Troop #765, Ratterman & Sons Funeral Home and the Knights of Columbus Archangels Assembly #3877, which Hunton belongs to.
The result is a newly constructed site for the retirement of American flags on St. Michael’s campus.
The flag retirement project blends education about respect for the American flag, said Hunton, and the principles of caring for creation outlined in Pope Francis’ encyclical on creation, known as “Laudato Si’.”
“Most people, they have flags and they know they shouldn’t just throw them away, but they don’t know what to do with them.”
— Mick O’Dae, St. Michael Church parishioner
The United States Flag Code states that worn flags “should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning.”
But mass burnings of flags can have negative effects on the environment, especially in regards to air pollution, noted Hunton. Paragraph 20 of Laudato Si’ discusses the issue of air pollution, stating, “Exposure to atmospheric pollutants produces a broad spectrum of health hazards, especially for the poor.”
Cremation of flags is one way that emissions can be reduced, Hunton noted.
Here’s how it works: Time-worn flags are collected at nine churches in the Archdiocese of Louisville — St. Michael, St. Patrick, St. Margaret Mary, St. Gabriel, St Edward, St. Brigid, St. James, Our Lady of Lourdes and the Shrine of St. Martin of Tours.
During flag retirement services conducted by the Knights and Scouts at St. Michael, a single flag is burned. The rest are respectfully folded and given to Ratterman & Sons Funeral Home, 3800 Bardstown Road, to be cremated.
The project — which has collected more than 200 flags — is the first of its kind in Kentucky, said Hunton.
It has received commendation from the Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control District, which stated, “The pollution from burning flags can be greatly reduced by doing so in a properly operating crematory,” in an email communication with Hunton.
Though most collected flags will not be burned at the physical site on St. Michael’s campus, the site is meant to educate individuals about respectful flag retirement, said Mick O’Dae, a sophomore at Manual High School and parishioner of St. Michael Church, who collaborated with Hunton on the project to earn his Eagle Scout rank. O’Dea is close to earning his rank, he said.
“Most people, they have flags and they know they shouldn’t just throw them away, but they don’t know what to do with them,” he said. “My grandfather, he had 13 flags that he didn’t know what to do with. He was a Boy Scout himself, so he knew he couldn’t get rid of them, but he didn’t know any place he could take them.”
O’Dae took charge of constructing the site, with the help of several Knights and Scouts. Then, on Flag Day, June 14, the site held its first flag retirement service and was blessed by Father Van Tran, associate pastor of the parish.
The project is also an ode to the late Pope Francis, said O’Dae.
“Especially in the light of Pope Francis’s passing — this was kind of his legacy, and so it’s important to honor what he said was important, and it really is. I mean, we only have one world and we all live in it, and it’d be a shame, really, if we don’t take care of it,” he said.
This summer, Hunton and O’Dae presented the project at the two “Laudato Si’ at Age Ten” events held in the Archdiocese of Louisville.
