diocesan cemeteries
Cemetery Operating Procedures
Cemetery:
a Sacred Place
PLENARY INDULGENCE
reasons for denial
of ecclesiastical funeral rites
RELIGIOUS SERVICES IN A CATHOLIC CEMETERY
CONTACT INFORMATION
Cemetery: A Sacred Place
To a Catholic, a cemetery is a
sacred place. Next to the church, no spot on earth should be so hallowed and
dear to a Parish. Ever since the Sacred Body of our Crucified Savior was
reverently laid in a tomb, there to await the hour of its glorious resurrection,
the Church has been most solicitous to cast about the burial of those who rise
with Christ an atmosphere of deep Christian faith and profound reverence. In the
cemetery are buried the mortal remains of the faithful departed, consecrated as
temples of the Holy Ghost with the holy oils of the Sacraments. The cemetery
speaks to a Christian of faith and hope in the resurrection of the body. Sensing
the deep meaning of burial grounds, the faithful have called their cemetery
significantly, "God's Acre." From his sacred soil shall come forth unto life
eternal the bodies of the faithful who have departed this life in the Lord.
Every Parish and Mission should be proud to possess a cemetery. (Fargo Diocesan Synodal Statutes #740).
The Church is to have its own
cemeteries wherever this can be done, or at least spaces in civil cemeteries
destined for the faithful departed and properly blessed (Canon 1240).
If a parish has its own
cemetery, the faithful departed are to be interred in it unless another cemetery
has been legitimately chosen either by the departed person or by those who are
responsible to arrange for his or her interment (Canon 1180).
Catholics, first by law and
then by tradition, have chosen to be buried in Catholic cemeteries, and this
preference should continue. In this way, Catholics have the assurance that
reverence and respect will be given to the remains of the deceased. Also, the
Catholic cemetery, in reflecting the doctrines and liturgy of Catholic belief,
maintains now in death the community of faith that was shared in life.
Furthermore, the Catholic cemetery is a place of devotion and prayer for the
souls of the departed.
We celebrate death, for it is
our Catholic belief that by His Death and Resurrection, Christ won for us the
right to share in His Life with the Father: "Just as in Adam all die, so in
Christ, all will come to life again"
(1 Cor. 15:23).
Since Catholic cemeteries are
intended for the burial of Catholics all questions regarding the burial of
non-Catholics or of persons deemed not worthy of a Christian burial shall be
decided by the Ordinary (Fargo Diocesan Synodal Statutes #743).
From the earliest days of the
Church, it is evident that cemeteries were exclusive places, held in veneration,
where only those who had been baptized were interred. Cemeteries were considered
sacred places, too, for the dead had been strengthened by the Sacraments,
especially by Christ's Body and Blood; they had been temples of the Holy Spirit,
and they would one day rise to be united with Christ forever.
A visit to a cemetery stirs
salutary thoughts of our own mortality, our debt to those who have gone before,
the shortness of life, and the fullness of eternity. We are the people who
accept death but believe in life, who believe that we are sons and daughters of
the God with whom there is no death. "Vivas," "May you live." Today that is
still the spirit with which we should bury our dead. "May you live in Christ,
live in the fullness of life which Jesus promised." A Catholic cemetery, and
many of our pious practices, are sacramentals. They are signs which express and
deepen our faith in the living God.
PLENARY INDULGENCE:
Each day that a person visits a cemetery from November 1 to 8, that person may
gain a Plenary Indulgence (Enchiridion of
Indulgences, 1986, No. 13).
reasons for denial
of ecclesiastical funeral rites: Unless they have given some
signs of repentance before their death, the following are to be deprived of
ecclesiastical funeral rites:
~ Notorious apostates,
heretics, and schismatics;
~ Persons who had chosen the
cremation of their own bodies for reasons
opposed to the Christian faith;
~ Other manifest sinners for whom
ecclesiastical funeral rites cannot be
granted without
public scandal to the faithful (Canon 1184.1).
RELIGIOUS SERVICES IN A
CATHOLIC CEMETERY
Catholic cemeteries as well as
Catholic churches are sacred places. They are to be dedicated according to the
ceremony that liturgical books prescribe for this purpose (Canon 1205). If there
is a cemetery chapel, it is not uncommon to have the Eucharist celebrated on a
regular basis beyond funerals. On special occasions, Mass may be celebrated
outdoors, e.g., Memorial Day, All Souls-Nov. 2-9.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Diocesan Director of Cemeteries
5201 Bishops Blvd, Suite A, Fargo, ND 58104
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