LINCOLN (SNR) – Calvary Catholic Cemetery and Mausoleum in Lincoln will hold an informative cemetery conference April 17 for diocesan pastors and cemetery personnel.
The conference will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the cemetery, 3880 L St., Lincoln, and lunch will be included for participants. There is no charge for diocesan and parish staff to attend, but RSVPs are required by April 12 to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Msgr. Timothy Thorburn, diocesan director of cemeteries, and director of Calvary Cemetery, said the idea for a conference came from priests in rural areas who had questions about cemetery management.
“Father Thomas MacLean, previous director of Calvary, began using more up-to-date ‘best practices’ techniques at Calvary some years ago,” Msgr. Thorburn said. “The present staff at the cemetery didn’t have any experience in cemetery management so we ‘learned by doing’ and by reaching out to the Archdiocese of Omaha cemeteries office for guidance. They were of tremendous help to us. We want to serve in a similar capacity for other cemeteries in the diocese.”
About 70 percent of the parishes in the Diocese of Lincoln have cemeteries. Church law states “Where possible, the Church is to have its own cemeteries, or at least an area in public cemeteries which is duly blessed and reserved for the deceased faithful.” (Canon 1240)
Though not required, Msgr. Thorburn explained, many early parishes – especially the early rural parishes – had cemeteries. Burial of the dead was usually a quicker and simpler affair. Bodies were not embalmed, so a Requiem Mass and burial usually took place just a day or two from the time of death. Efficient transport of the deceased was not readily available.
“A horse and buggy would not go very far, very fast,” he explained, “so burial in another place, even what we today would consider a short distance such as 20-50 miles, would not normally have been considered.”
Calvary Cemetery was originally part of St. Teresa Parish, and recorded its first burial in 1869. In 1930, it was deeded to the Calvary Cemetery Association, supported by Catholic parishes across the Diocese of Lincoln.
Bishop Louis B. Kucera founded the Diocesan Department of Catholic Cemeteries in 1941, the first such department in the country. Until that time, local mortuaries administered the cemetery. Since 1941, an appointed priest has served as director of Calvary Catholic Cemetery & Mausoleum, in cooperation with parishes and mortuaries in the city of Lincoln.
The April 17 conference will include varied topics. Presentations will be given on practical considerations like forms and documents, creating directories, and monument basics. There will be a presentation on cemetery safety – effective covering and marking of graves before a burial, proper use of power equipment.
But the conference will also stress the importance of faith in the work of a Catholic cemetery.
“Catholic cemeteries are an extension of our faith,” Msgr. Thorburn said. “They are a visible connection between the living faithful and the faithful departed, for even in death we are united as a Catholic community. Catholic cemetery grounds have been blessed, usually by the bishop, and are thus holy ground. The deceased interred or entombed there have been laid to rest in a sacred and spiritual environment, as called for in Catholic teaching (Canon 1205).
“Catholic cemeteries honor the memories of loved ones whose lives were important to us and to God, since He created them His image and likeness (Gen 1:27),” he continued. “Cemeteries remind us that we have an obligation to help by our prayers and sacrifices the souls of the faithful departed, for one day each of us will need that help. Finally, our faith teaches us that burying the dead as a corporal work of mercy.”
One focus of the conference will be discussing how beautification and care of a cemetery are “a blessing to families.”
A cemetery is a place where people come at a time of particular grief at the loss of a loved one, and it should be a place of consolation, Msgr. Thorburn said. “If it is not, the poor condition of a cemetery only adds to the pain.”
He added that many “little things” help keep a cemetery beautiful. For safety and beauty, trees and hedges need to be trimmed, the cemetery needs to be mowed regularly, and well-placed statuary and memorials can add to the prayerful setting and beauty. Flowers, well placed and blooming remind visitors that the ground is not simply the repository of remains, but from the ground also comes beauty.
“The Creed says it best: ‘I believe in the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting.’ When the Lord calls the bodies of the faithful to rise, fully redeemed and alive from the grave, they will be fully restored and more beautiful than they ever were before they died,” Msgr. Thorburn concluded.
Calvary staff will also share their experiences of adding an annual All Souls Day interment event, in which they provide a dignified and permanent place of rest at no cost for the cremated remains of anyone, regardless of faith, at the “All Souls Memorial Crypt,” and interment for miscarried babies. Twice a year, the remains of miscarried children who have been reverently cared for at area hospitals are brought to Calvary for Catholic burial and remembrance. There is no cost to families, but memorial bricks are available for purchase.
The cemetery is open to visitors every day, including holidays, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. The office is open from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and by appointment on weekends.
Mass is celebrated every Friday at 12:15 p.m. inside the mausoleum, for the repose of souls of all the faithful departed buried at Calvary Catholic Cemetery and Mausoleum.
An annual Memorial Day Mass is celebrated outdoors, and will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Monday, May 31.
