Catholic "natural burials" now offered in Chicago

 

Chicago opens Catholic “natural burial” cemetery

J-P Mauro - published on 09/05/24

While it is not the only cemetery in Illinois that offers natural burials, it is the first one offered by the Catholic Church.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago has become the first in Illinois to make available cemetery plots for “natural burials.” While alternative methods of burial that have become popular in recent years have been controversial, the archdiocese has assured the faithful that the cemetery’s offerings are completely in line with Church teaching. 

According to the archdiocese, the plots reserved for natural burials will be located in St. Michael the Archangel Cemetery in Palatine, where a small one-acre area will be dedicated as “Meadows of St. Kateri” in September. The archdiocese website describes the site as including a meadow with long grass and a winding path to walk and reflect and “connect with nature.” 

The Archdiocese of Chicago goes on to explain that natural burial is not a new form of burial, but a return to the traditional ways that people buried the dead for the majority of the last 2,000 years. It wrote of the process: 

“Natural burials forgo harsh embalming fluids, traditional caskets, and outer burial containers in favor of biodegradable materials, organic fibers, and eco-friendly embalming techniques. This minimizes environmental impact while honoring the natural cycle of life and death.”

The announcement came with a brief video tour of the Meadows of St. Kateri. The tour begins at a small pavilion area at the entrance and follows the winding path made from gravel and white marble blocks. The environment is very “natural” with the plants left to grow unpruned and flowers popping up unplanned. 

While it is not the only cemetery in Illinois that offers natural burials, it is the first one offered by the Catholic Church. The Archdiocese of Chicago has assured that the offerings at the Meadows of St. Kateri “aligns with Catholic teachings on the sanctity of life and respect for the environment and honors the Catholic faith in the Resurrection — the cycle of death and rebirth.”

Ted Ratajczyk, executive director of Catholic Cemeteries in the archdiocese, said in a statement:

“We are honored to offer a new natural burial option that not only respects the environment but also aligns with Catholic teachings for treating the human body with dignity. This initiative reflects our commitment to providing choices that honor the dignity of life, the needs of our community and the values of our faith.” Ratajczyk said in a statement.

Learn more about Catholic natural burials at the Archdiocese of Chicago.

New norms issued today for Catholic funerals involving cremation

With New Cremation Norms, CDF Aims To Bury (Questions Over) Ashes

Given the rather fevered interest over yesterday's heads-up in the side-feed – and, above all, the pastoral import as cremation (long a forbidden option) becomes an increasingly common practice in Catholic funerals – below is the English text of the CDF instruction Ad resurgendum cum Christo ("To Rise With Christ"), released at Roman Noon this Tuesday on burial rites involving the ashes/cremains of the deceased.

As with any binding Curial document governing the life of the church, the following was explicitly approved by the Pope and published on his orders.... Yet as the note's most prominent proviso – an almost airtight prohibition on the scattering of ashes following a funeral liturgy – notably overrides a 2008 guidance on the question from the Italian bishops, who will enforce the new norms is anyone's guess.

Here, the complete text (with footnotes):

Instruction Ad resurgendum cum Christo
regarding the burial of the deceased
and the conservation of the ashes in the case of cremation

1. To rise with Christ, we must die with Christ: we must “be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Cor 5:8). With the Instruction Piam et Constantem of 5 July 1963, the then Holy Office established that “all necessary measures must be taken to preserve the practice of reverently burying the faithful departed”, adding however that cremation is not “opposed per se to the Christian religion” and that no longer should the sacraments and funeral rites be denied to those who have asked that they be cremated, under the condition that this choice has not been made through “a denial of Christian dogmas, the animosity of a secret society, or hatred of the Catholic religion and the Church”.1 Later this change in ecclesiastical discipline was incorporated into the Code of Canon Law (1983) and the Code of Canons of Oriental Churches (1990).

During the intervening years, the practice of cremation has notably increased in many countries, but simultaneously new ideas contrary to the Church’s faith have also become widespread. Having consulted the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts and numerous Episcopal Conferences and Synods of Bishops of the Oriental Churches, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has deemed opportune the publication of a new Instruction, with the intention of underlining the doctrinal and pastoral reasons for the preference of the burial of the remains of the faithful and to set out norms pertaining to the conservation of ashes in the case of cremation.

2. The resurrection of Jesus is the culminating truth of the Christian faith, preached as an essential part of the Paschal Mystery from the very beginnings of Christianity: “For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures; that he was buried; that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures; that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve” (1 Cor 15:3-5). Through his death and resurrection, Christ freed us from sin and gave us access to a new life, “so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Rm 6:4). Furthermore, the risen Christ is the principle and source of our future resurrection: “Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep […] For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Cor 15:20-22).

It is true that Christ will raise us up on the last day; but it is also true that, in a certain way, we have already risen with Christ. In Baptism, actually, we are immersed in the death and resurrection of Christ and sacramentally assimilated to him: “You were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead” (Col 2:12). United with Christ by Baptism, we already truly participate in the life of the risen Christ (cf. Eph 2:6).

Because of Christ, Christian death has a positive meaning. The Christian vision of death receives privileged expression in the liturgy of the Church: “Indeed for your faithful, Lord, life is changed not ended, and, when this earthly dwelling turns to dust, an eternal dwelling is made ready for them in heaven”.2 By death the soul is separated from the body, but in the resurrection God will give incorruptible life to our body, transformed by reunion with our soul. In our own day also, the Church is called to proclaim her faith in the resurrection: “The confidence of Christians is the resurrection of the dead; believing this we live”.3

3. Following the most ancient Christian tradition, the Church insistently recommends that the bodies of the deceased be buried in cemeteries or other sacred places.4 In memory of the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord, the mystery that illumines the Christian meaning of death,5 burial is above all the most fitting way to express faith and hope in the resurrection of the body.6 

The Church who, as Mother, has accompanied the Christian during his earthly pilgrimage, offers to the Father, in Christ, the child of her grace, and she commits to the earth, in hope, the seed of the body that will rise in glory.7

By burying the bodies of the faithful, the Church confirms her faith in the resurrection of the body,8 and intends to show the great dignity of the human body as an integral part of the human person whose body forms part of their identity.9 She cannot, therefore, condone attitudes or permit rites that involve erroneous ideas about death, such as considering death as the definitive annihilation of the person, or the moment of fusion with Mother Nature or the universe, or as a stage in the cycle of regeneration, or as the definitive liberation from the “prison” of the body. Furthermore, burial in a cemetery or another sacred place adequately corresponds to the piety and respect owed to the bodies of the faithful departed who through Baptism have become temples of the Holy Spirit and in which “as instruments and vessels the Spirit has carried out so many good works”.10

Tobias, the just, was praised for the merits he acquired in the sight of God for having buried the dead,11 and the Church considers the burial of dead one of the corporal works of mercy.12 

Finally, the burial of the faithful departed in cemeteries or other sacred places encourages family members and the whole Christian community to pray for and remember the dead, while at the same time fostering the veneration of martyrs and saints.

Through the practice of burying the dead in cemeteries, in churches or their environs, Christian tradition has upheld the relationship between the living and the dead and has opposed any tendency to minimize, or relegate to the purely private sphere, the event of death and the meaning it has for Christians.

4. In circumstances when cremation is chosen because of sanitary, economic or social considerations, this choice must never violate the explicitly-stated or the reasonably inferable wishes of the deceased faithful. The Church raises no doctrinal objections to this practice, since cremation of the deceased’s body does not affect his or her soul, nor does it prevent God, in his omnipotence, from raising up the deceased body to new life. Thus cremation, in and of itself, objectively negates neither the Christian doctrine of the soul’s immortality nor that of the resurrection of the body.13

The Church continues to prefer the practice of burying the bodies of the deceased, because this shows a greater esteem towards the deceased. Nevertheless, cremation is not prohibited, “unless it was chosen for reasons contrary to Christian doctrine”.14 In the absence of motives contrary to Christian doctrine, the Church, after the celebration of the funeral rite, accompanies the choice of cremation, providing the relevant liturgical and pastoral directives, and taking particular care to avoid every form of scandal or the appearance of religious indifferentism.

5. When, for legitimate motives, cremation of the body has been chosen, the ashes of the faithful must be laid to rest in a sacred place, that is, in a cemetery or, in certain cases, in a church or an area, which has been set aside for this purpose, and so dedicated by the competent ecclesial authority. From the earliest times, Christians have desired that the faithful departed become the objects of the Christian community’s prayers and remembrance. Their tombs have become places of prayer, remembrance and reflection. The faithful departed remain part of the Church who believes “in the communion of all the faithful of Christ, those who are pilgrims on earth, the dead who are being purified, and the blessed in heaven, all together forming one Church”.15

The reservation of the ashes of the departed in a sacred place ensures that they are not excluded from the prayers and remembrance of their family or the Christian community. It prevents the faithful departed from being forgotten, or their remains from being shown a lack of respect, which eventuality is possible, most especially once the immediately subsequent generation has too passed away. Also it prevents any unfitting or superstitious practices.

6. For the reasons given above, the conservation of the ashes of the departed in a domestic residence is not permitted. Only in grave and exceptional cases dependent on cultural conditions of a localized nature, may the Ordinary, in agreement with the Episcopal Conference or the Synod of Bishops of the Oriental Churches, concede permission for the conservation of the ashes of the departed in a domestic residence. Nonetheless, the ashes may not be divided among various family members and due respect must be maintained regarding the circumstances of such a conservation.

7. In order that every appearance of pantheism, naturalism or nihilism be avoided, it is not permitted to scatter the ashes of the faithful departed in the air, on land, at sea or in some other way, nor may they be preserved in mementos, pieces of jewelry or other objects. These courses of action cannot be legitimized by an appeal to the sanitary, social, or economic motives that may have occasioned the choice of cremation.

8. When the deceased notoriously has requested cremation and the scattering of their ashes for reasons contrary to the Christian faith, a Christian funeral must be denied to that person according to the norms of the law.16

The Sovereign Pontiff Francis, in the Audience granted to the undersigned Cardinal Prefect on 18 March 2016, approved the present Instruction, adopted in the Ordinary Session of this Congregation on 2 March 2016, and ordered its publication.

Rome, from the Offices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 15 August 2016, the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Gerhard Card. Müller
Prefect

Luis F. Ladaria, SJ
Titular Archbishop of Thibica
Secretary

For Catholics, Cremation ok, scattering ashes no, keeping ashes at home no. Read all about it.

Changing Catholic Attitudes about Cremation

November 03, 2012

Since the ban on cremations was lifted in the 1960s, the practice has been on the rise among Catholics.

Jim Graves

Cremation of human remains was prohibited by Catholic authorities for much of the history of the Church. Today, it is not only allowed, but growing in popularity among the faithful, according to Monica Williams, Director of Cemeteries for the Archdiocese of San Francisco. Nearly a third of Catholic families in the archdiocese opt for cremation, she said, as more people come to accept it.

“It takes time for family traditions to change,” Williams said. “More people are choosing cremation as an alternative.”

While full-body burial remains the Church’s preferred choice, there are practical reasons for cremation. Cost is one; cremation can shave thousands off the $6,000-8,000 cost of burial. Another is that families can inter cremated remains in family plots, which have limited space. Some argue it is a more ecologically-friendly choice, Williams said, as less open space and materials are required for cremation.

Church permits cremation

Cremation is the process of reducing a body to bone fragments through the application of intense heat. The bone fragments are then pulverized, placed in a container and returned to the family. Regarding its morality, the Catechism of the Catholic Church devotes a single sentence to cremation: “The Church permits cremation, provided that it does not demonstrate a denial of faith in the resurrection of the body” (no. 2301).

The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, while noting that cremation is permitted, stresses that the Church holds a preference for full-body burial. The USCCB explained, “The Church’s reverence and care for the body grows out of a reverence and concern for the person whom the Church now commends to the care of God.… The human body is so inextricably associated with the human person that it is hard to think of a human person apart from his or her body.”

Church authorities banned the practice of cremation centuries ago to counter the ancient Roman practice of cremating the body as a rejection of the existence of an afterlife.  Scripture teaches that man is made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-27), and therefore the body must be respected in both this life and the next. The body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, and therefore, must be treated with respect.

While cremation was common in the ancient world, by the fifth century it had been largely abandoned in the Roman Empire due to Christian influence. Today more than a third of Americans opt for cremation; some nations, like Japan, have a nearly 100 percent cremation rate.

In 1963, the Vatican lifted the cremation ban. Since 1997, cremated remains have been allowed to be present at funeral Masses, and are given the same respect as remains in a casket. Cremated remains must be buried, just like a body, in a cemetery, crypt, or other appropriate burial place. Scattering ashes or keeping them at home is not permitted.

As more residents of the Archdiocese of San Francisco opt for cremation, it has had one effect on the six archdiocesan cemeteries with open space: it has slowed down the rate at which they are filling up. The 300 acres of Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma—the Archdiocese’s oldest and largest cemetery—are less than half full and now can accept remains for another 300 years, Williams estimates. Holy Cross is celebrating the 125th anniversary of its opening, and is the final resting place for about 400,000 individuals, including many of the Bay Area’s most prominent citizens, such as baseball legend Joe DiMaggio.

St. Dominic’s columbarium

The San Francisco archdiocese’s cemeteries are not the only sites approved for internment of cremated remains. Historic St. Dominic’s Church recently built a columbarium, a facility used for internment of urns with cremated remains. It is the only Catholic church in the city of San Francisco to house a columbarium. Three hundred twenty niches were built, enough for the remains of 640 people. It is located near the altar area.

The columbarium was the idea of parishioners, who approached the pastor, Father Xavier Lavagetto, according to parishioner and volunteer Judie Doherty. One of the driving factors behind the building of the columbarium was that many parishioners, including Doherty, had the cremated remains of relatives at home. Many of these parishioners are elderly, she said, unable to make regular trips to Holy Cross or other cemeteries.

In Doherty’s case, she was keeping the remains of her mother, who died four years ago. “I love her, and I wanted her near me,” Doherty said.

She was initially unaware of the Church’s prohibition against keeping cremated remains at home, but, in time, the wisdom of the Church’s position dawned on her. “When I die, what happens to the remains of my mother?” she reflected.

Doherty did much of the initial research for the St. Dominic’s columbarium, and remains an active volunteer in the project. About 100 people have purchased spaces, she said, which range in cost from $4,000-$15,000. “Many people in the parish are grateful for the opportunity to keep the remains of their loved ones in their home parish,” she said.

Catechetical moment

The Diocese of Madison, Wisconsin, has much more rural space than San Francisco, and the situation for burials is far different. It only has three diocesan cemeteries, and 120 parish cemeteries. Some parishes have columbaria as well. Five years ago, Madison’s Bishop Robert Morlino commissioned a study assessing the management of the diocese’s places of burial. Grant Emmel, who is involved with special projects for the diocese, oversaw the study. The issue of cremation came up during the assessment.

“For us, it is a catechetical moment,” Emmel said. “What does our faith teach? At the end of the world, the dead will rise and our cemeteries will be emptied. Our Lord is coming back for our bodies and will return them to us.”

The diocese wanted to teach parishioners about the dignity of the body—which includes the proper laying of the body to rest—and the broader teaching of the Resurrection. “We live in a secular world that is cost-conscious,” Emmel said. “Many people don’t look at cremation as the proper way to care for the body after death, but as merely an economic decision.”

He noted that in areas where the Catholic faith is stronger, cremation is chosen less frequently. Depending on the region of Madison, cremations make up 20 to 40 percent of all burials.  

However, Emmel noted, there are also Catholics who have their loved ones cremated but do not bring them to cemeteries for burial. As in other dioceses, Madison is concerned with what Catholics are doing with these cremated remains. “People bring grandma’s remains home in an urn and keep them on a coffee table. That’s not right,” Emmel said. “If you had a full-body burial, would you bring grandma home in a casket and keep it in your living room? Both are human remains, and should be laid to rest properly.”

Cemeteries are hallowed ground, where individuals are fittingly memorialized. They are also places families can go to remember and pray for those they love. “Cemeteries should be important to us because members of our families are there,” Emmel said. “Their care, and the properly laying to rest of our deceased, whether full body or cremated remains, should be important to us.”

Bishop Morlino stressed, “We care for the body as heaven-bound. The body, which is corruptible, is going to put on incorruptibility…and immortality, and will be glorified.”

The bishop said that the body’s destiny is heaven, not the grave. “We’re not disposing of the body in the grave…we’re allowing it to rest in order to have it raised up,” he said. “God has further use of that body. It is not a throw-away.”

The Church’s belief in the Resurrection is why it forbids such practices as scattering human remains, which Bishop Morlino described as “trying to do something poetic with them to make someone feel good.” He continued, “God has a place [for the body] in heaven. … It is especially important to remind people of this in November, the month of the Holy Souls.”

Follow our Catholic traditions

The Diocese of Phoenix has six cemeteries and one mortuary. It has 1,800 burials annually, and about 350 funerals. Nearly 40 percent opt for cremation, due to the lower cost, changing attitudes about cremation, and the ease of transporting remains. None of Phoenix’s parishes has a columbarium.

The increasing demand for cremation has posed some financial challenges to the diocese. Much of its cemetery land was purchased decades ago before cremation was widespread; today, less of the land is needed and lower revenues are coming in to main the cemeteries, reported Gary Brown, the diocese’s executive director of cemeteries and mortuaries.

Additionally, as in San Francisco and Madison, many in Phoenix take remains home, or scatter or divide them up.

Brown recalled a recent “gift” to Catholic Charities of the diocese. Someone donated an urn with human remains, saying he no longer wanted to keep them at his house. Brown saw to it that they were properly interred. “This type of thing happens too often,” he said. “We’re trying to reach out to people in an effort to prevent this behavior.”

The diocese recently released new guidelines on cremation for parishioners. “Bishop Thomas Olmsted [the Ordinary of the Phoenix diocese] has made it clear how human remains should be handled,” Brown said. “It’s important to him that we follow our Catholic traditions.”

Brown agrees with Emmel on another benefit of using Catholic cemeteries: “Having a place to visit is important to families when they’ve lost someone.”

The Archdiocese of Atlanta does not operate cemeteries of its own; Catholics bury their deceased in private cemeteries with Catholic sections. The Diocese of Savannah-Atlanta originally encompassed the entire state of Georgia, and Atlanta became its own diocese in 1956. The population of the archdiocese has grown rapidly in recent years, and increasing land costs prevented the archdiocese from purchasing significant acreage for cemeteries near its population centers (the nearest Catholic cemetery may be a two-to-three-hour drive from these centers).

In an effort to serve the Catholic population’s needs, several parishes have built columbaria and memorial gardens for cremated remains. Such sites must be built with approval of the archbishop; the chief concern being if a parish with a columbarium were to close, the remains of the deceased would have to be relocated.

Deacon Ray Egan, who oversees issues related to burials and cemeteries for the archdiocese, noted that while traditional burial of the deceased is still the preferred choice among Atlanta Catholics, the number of cremations is “creeping up” to around 20 percent.

As cremation grows in popularly, Deacon Egan echoed the concerns of other dioceses. “We also want people to understand that they should give the same respect to cremated remains as they would to a body,” he said.

Dignified, compassionate; a burial for the prematurely born

A work of mercy

Written by Peter Finney Jr.

The two young fathers led the silent procession.  The handcrafted, foot-long caskets they carried, chest-high, were as light as small jewelry boxes.  The men processed single file, followed by family members, to the mausoleum of St. Charles Borromeo Cemetery in Destrehan on Aug. 14. 

They were coming to bury their tiny children – Aliason and Jermirri – who both were born prematurely at 23 weeks gestation and lived only a few hours.

“God’s word brings consolation to our hearts, and we know that the Lord, in the good moments of our lives and the sad moments of our lives, will never abandon us,” Oblate Father George Roy, director of the Center of Jesus the Lord, told family members huddled around a table bearing the two caskets, inscribed with a cross and the children’s names. “We pray that the Lord will take them to himself and give them the peace and joy he reserves for all of his children.”

In the last 11 years, an all-volunteer group known as Compassionate Burials for Indigent Children (CBIB) has provided burial services for 30 babies whose families could not afford a funeral. Burying the dead is the last of the seven corporal works of mercy. The journey since 2003 has left CBIB founder Lise Naccari almost at a loss for words.

“I never want to say no to any of these mothers,” Naccari said. “They want to bury their baby, but they cannot.”

All-volunteer ministry
CBIB relies on an extended network of helpers. Beyond receiving the assistance of nurses and doctors who identify needy families who have lost a child, local funeral homes, cemeteries and individual patrons with crypts or burial plots have stepped up either to donate or greatly discount the cost of their services.

Individual CBIB members craft the tiny caskets, stitch together white, silk linings for the inside, sew tiny burial dresses and create tiny, huggable “angel” dolls that are embroidered with the child’s name and handed to the mother at the funeral.

“That mother never lets go of the doll,” Naccari said. “We used to give them potted plants, and they were holding them during the funeral. It’s the empty-arm syndrome. That’s when we decided to make the dolls.”
 

“To see that mother caress that baby doll in her arms is amazing,” said CBIB member Mary Grace Orsag.

Naccari was raised Baptist and attended Catholic schools most of her life. But it wasn’t until 1991, when she began attending the Center of Jesus the Lord, that she felt a powerful tug to convert to the Catholic faith while studying and praying with the late Father Emile Lafranz.

There, she met Lloyd Williams, a man with a cleft palate who had trouble speaking. Father Lafranz offered Williams a job as a security guard, and over months of conversation, Williams told Naccari about a dream he had when he died: he wanted a jazz funeral.

“And he wasn’t even sick,” Naccari said. “His last words to me were, ‘You’re sure you’re going to do this jazz funeral for me?’ I said, ‘I’ve got it all taken care of.’”

That night, Williams, who showed no signs of illness, died in his sleep of a heart attack.

True to her word, Naccari and members of the center gathered jazz musicians of all stripes for the funeral Mass and second line.

“It’s a miracle story,” Naccari said. “We closed off Rampart Street. We had 300 roses for his coffin. There were 300 people for his funeral. It was beautiful.”

First burial in 2003
In 2003, Naccari was the vice president of New Orleans Right to Life when someone mentioned at a meeting that a baby girl, Tashanie, had been aborted and needed a Christian funeral. The story had become public because the mother had been sent home by the abortion clinic following the procedure and hemorrhaged, nearly bleeding to death herself.

“
I almost fell off my chair,” Naccari said. “I said, ‘That’s me. I’ve got to do that.’ That mother had a gruesome, awful experience. How many women do not tell that story? Our message is that God loves you. And God loves those babies. We believe in life from conception, and we believe it needs to be reverenced, just like Jesus was reverenced through death.”
 

After that first infant funeral, Naccari started paying attention. “Then babies started popping up in trash cans,” she said.

Naccari called the Jefferson Parish coroner and asked if anyone had come forward to claim a discarded baby for burial. 

“When you have a situation like this, people don’t want to address it,” Naccari said. “These babies do not get buried because somebody’s going to jail, and the baby falls into limbo. How sad.”

A baby left in a gym bag
After receiving permission to bury that baby – Cody Jr. – Naccari got a call from the coroner’s office. Could she bury another child? The mother had given birth at home, dressed the infant in clothes, put her in a gym bag and then threw her into a dumpster, where she was found dead by a homeless man rummaging for food.

“The mother went to jail,” Naccari said. “The baby came to us, and she was absolutely beautiful.”

In the first few years, CBIB was burying about two or three babies every year. In the last year, as word about the organization has begun to spread, that number has jumped to two or three per month. With each funeral costing about $1,000, the vast increase in numbers has Naccari praying for help. She also has received more inquiries recently about burying the babies of poor families.
 

“We’re just a bunch of maw-maws and paw-paws,” Naccari said. “It’s a miracle, but we always seem to have just enough. As soon as I write a big check for these funerals – which depletes the account – all of a sudden another check will come in for the same amount I have written out. It’s a journey of faith. It’s a test of your faith.”

Greg Ledet, an Algiers man who “grew up in sawdust” as an apprentice to his cabinet-maker father, attended last week’s funeral. In his garage workshop, Ledet expertly crafts some of the tiny wooden caskets that are used for the infant burials. It was the first time Ledet had been able to attend a funeral in which his caskets were used.

“At first, it was just dimensions and measurements, but when I saw those fathers carrying the boxes so reverently, it was like – bam – this is such a sacred thing,” Ledet said. “This was a crucial part of this family’s mourning. That’s when it really hit home to me. Four days earlier, those boxes were in my garage on my table, and now they were holding this precious, unborn child.”

Dinora Perez, whose baby had lived only a few hours, clutched the angel doll close to her breast.
 

“It’s really hard, but I know she’s at peace now, resting somewhere,” Perez said. “I will definitely come back to visit. It’s a peace in your heart to know you have your daughter somewhere where you can visit.”
 

Nyijia Laneheart said the funeral for her infant son Jermirri would not have been possible on her own.

“I’m really thankful and happy,” she said. “It means the world to me. I have to do it. It’s the only thing I can celebrate with my child. I can’t do any birthdays, any Christmases.”

For more information or to donate to CBIB, go to cbibabies.org or call 202-3111.

To bury the dead

Requiem Mass of Christian Burial at St. John the Evangelist

Posted: Mar 28, 2012 8:37 AM by Cecilia Stevenson

 

Requiem Mass of Christian burial will be held on Saturday April 28th, 2012 at 10:00am in the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist. This burial will lay to rest 92 of Acadiana's less fortunate who died over the last several years without the benefit of having their family at their final rest.
Bishop Michael Jarrell, Bishop of the Diocese of Lafayette, will be the celebrant of the funeral Mass and will conduct the services. Father Chester Arceneaux, Rector of the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, will con-celebrate this special Mass. Burial will take place on the hollowed grounds of St. John's historic cemetery in a columbarium built to respectfully bury the cremated bodies of our brothers and sisters in Christ.
A prayer vigil will take place in the Cathedral Center beginning at 9:00am on Saturday March 28th, 2012. There will be a praying of the Holy Rosary, and a guard of honor provided by the Vietnam Veterans of America. The guard will honor those deceased who served our country in any of the military services. The guard will also provide a twenty-one gun salute, playing of Taps, and full military rites for the funeral Mass.
Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist gives an open invitation and encourages the communities participation in this noble and most worthy act of charity towards our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. They would like to encourage everyone to remember all the faithful departed in your prayers.

Eternal rest grant unto them o Lord...........and let perpetual light shine upon them.

>>>This is the Diocese of Lafayette, La.
Basically this is being held for all those who have never been claimed by family or friends from the local coroners office.  A wonderful thing they are doing; fulfilling one of the Church's corporal works of mercy.