Administration
CATHOLIC CEMETERIES MISSION STATEMENTVISION:
The image of a long trip can help to understand life. Our experiences of birth, the stages of growth, navigating through all that happens in life, are like a great voyage. We view this with a different eye because of our faith. We don't travel alone, we are part of a believing community; this community supports us and marks major turning points and great moments with prayer and ritual.
Death is not simply an end of this trip. Death and life are of the same cloth. We see death with a different eye; we say in our funeral liturgy for all to hear "Lord, for your faithful people life is changed, not ended." As part of the great voyage, death is another stage along the way, celebrated by the believing community. The cemetery is part of this ritual.
We have our own cemeteries because we see death with that different eye. Catholic Cemeteries of the Diocese of Springfield exist to meet the needs of individuals and families before, at the time of death and burial, and throughout bereavement. By setting aside a holy place for burial we provide a fitting environment for full liturgical celebrations. Just as in life, we believe that in death the human body deserves to be treated in death with respect and dignity. We also foster a type of remembering that is enlightened by faith and sees death as a bridge to the Communion of Saints. Our bonds with the believing are not broken by death.
HISTORY OF CATHOLIC CEMETERIES:
Cemeteries are rooted in ancient religious rituals of reverence for the dead. Separate sacred spaces have always been set aside for burial. Influenced by Jewish tradition and the diversity of burial practices of Gentile converts, the early Christian Church developed a burial tradition which retained reverence for the body and a sacred space for burial but also connected the death/resurrection of the believer with the death/resurrection of the Lord. That is why Eucharist, the remembrance and celebration of the death and resurrection of the Lord, has always been integral to the burial of Christians who "have died in the hope of rising again".
SIGNIFICANCE OF CATHOLIC CEMETERIES:
When one enters a Catholic cemetery, the Church's teachings about life, death, and life after death should come to mind. Cemeteries are part of our ritual space. Those involved in cemeteries are meant to provide a ministerial service.
In the Diocese of Springfield there are some 50 Catholic cemeteries dating from the time of the first Catholic presence in western Massachusetts. Whether diocesan or parochial, Catholic cemeteries in the Diocese of Springfield are to be service organizations. They must seek to help people face the hard reality of death in the context of the promise of eternal life.
A Catholic cemetery encourages frequent visitation and prayer for the dead. It seeks to foster an environment in which love is remembered, hope is rekindled, and faith is awakened and strengthened. Attention to the needs of the poor is always integral to the Catholic cemetery. Just as we must treat the poor with dignity in life, so too we must treat them with dignity in death.
We serve families best when we help them anticipate needs which are part of the reality of death. In the Diocese of Springfield we look upon the arrangement of burial space not as a business transaction, but as a teaching moment, an opportunity for growth in faith. When individuals and families acknowledge the issues surrounding mortality and begin to make burial plans, it is a graced moment in which our faith can and must be integrated if we are to be true to the service we render.
In our contact with families, we represent the larger Church; we represent pastors and parish communities to people who vary widely in the degree of their involvement in Church life. Our work must be marked by welcoming, caring and healing. In the valuable record-keeping that we do, we serve as archives of the community of God's people.
SERVICE COMMITMENT:
The services offered by Catholic cemeteries in the Diocese of Springfield must always be seen as putting our faith into action. Care for the burial needs of the Catholic community is a sacred trust, a service to the community on behalf of the community. In the name of the People of God, those who labor in our cemeteries must be committed to support a deepening of faith in the families who experience a death.
Our cemeteries strive to be places which invite young and old to see death as a part of the larger pattern of life and to understand our burial ritual and religious traditions surrounding the experience of death. In the Diocese of Springfield, we encourage full utilization of the Catholic rituals surrounding death at our cemeteries, including grave side services.
CLIENTELE:
Catholic cemeteries in the Diocese of Springfield exist to serve not only the Church but also the greater community and all of society by making religious statements about the individual person, humankind, life, death, and life after death.
Those who minister in Catholic cemeteries will extend their efforts to all baptized members of the Catholic tradition. Where families are divided in their religious tradition, the request for burial of a family member of another tradition will be honored.
FUTURE:
The Diocese of Springfield is committed to promoting services that are ministerial in character. Our primary focus will continue to be comfort to the bereaved. The Catholic cemetery will be a place of prayer and liturgical celebration. We will continue to express Catholic belief and practice in all that surrounds the reality of death.
Our Catholic cemeteries will be places where the meaning of life and death is well expressed in symbol and action. We will not attempt to hide the hard reality of death, for death is not easy. We will make our cemeteries places of remembering, healing, strengthening, and prayer. In this way Catholic cemeteries of the Diocese of Springfield will continue to give perspective and meaning to life, death and life after death.
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