Policy encourages respect for dead, is corporal work of mercy, priest liason says

SOUTHFIELD — Death is not the end, and for the faithful departed, their bodies are just as sacred as when they were first baptized and made temples of the Lord.

For this reason, Catholic cemeteries work to ensure the remains of all people, regardless of faith or method of interment, are properly cared for in a way that ensures the dignity of all.

It’s not just a nice thing to do; it’s a corporal work of mercy as commanded by Jesus, said Fr. Tim Babcock, liaison for archdiocesan cemeteries and a board member of Catholic Funeral and Cemetery Services of Detroit.



“We want to make it easy for people to be buried or have their remained interred according to what we believe as Catholics,” Fr. Babcock said. “Whether that’s a form of evangelization or not for the families, it’s a service. Burying the dead is always a corporal work of mercy. Mother Theresa picked people up, giving them a decent place to die with dignity.”

Since 2010, CFCS has sponsored the Holy Angels program, in which Catholic cemeteries accept cremated remains, no questions asked, regardless of faith.

“We will take all ashes without cost, giving them reverent care,” Fr. Babcock said. “We do this for people of all faiths. The ashes go in a crypt, we say a committal prayer, and when the crypt is full they go into an on-site storage facility.

“We’re had funeral directors with ashes that nobody claimed come to us and we give them reverent disposition. We also work with people who can’t afford a burial.”

On Oct. 25, Cardinal Gerhard Muller, prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, announced the Vatican’s most recent instruction in regards to burial, specifically on those who wished to be cremated.

Fr. Babcock said the report reaffirmed prior instruction in 1963, that cremation was an acceptable way of caring for the body of the deceased, so long as the ashes were properly cared for and the act wasn’t made as a statement against belief in the resurrection.

Fr. Babcock said CFCS sites — Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Southfield, Our Lady of Hope Cemetery in Brownstown Township, St. Joseph Cemetery Association in Monroe or Mount Carmel Cemetery in Wyandotte — encourage people to bring their cremated remains because it encourages respect and remembrance of the sacredness of the body.

“Whether it’s a body or ashes, the Church has a long tradition of burial places where people can be remembered,” Fr. Babcock said. “When ashes are spread across a wide area or are gone, then they aren’t there to be remembered. It’s important for remembering, be it memorial stones or markers. We believe in baptism, we live and die as temples of the Holy Spirit; we believe the body should not be dismembered, and that goes for the cremated remains of a body.”

At area Catholic cemeteries, families who have ashes of their loved ones can work with cemetery staff to have the remains interred, either for free as part of the general remembrance program, or with low-payment plans for those who wish for their loved one’s remains to be placed in a niche at the cemetery site.

“Sometimes, we have the interment of the remains done later, offering a chance for the families to pray in the chapel or the gravesite during interment,” Fr. Babcock said. “We do have smaller gravesites, big enough for a headstone for those who choose to bury the ashes of their loved ones. Everything is done the same as if it were a body in a casket, the ashes are sprinkled with holy water, to remember they’re part of the final cleansing in purgatory, where they continue to live.”

Fr. Babcock said all CFCS locations properly record whose remains are interred there, and all the departed are prayed for at monthly Masses.

“Cemeteries are a sacred space for loved ones to be buried,” Fr. Babcock said. “To have loved one there to be remembered, it’s more than a public memorial, its sacred ground. We believe the person is alive, but through the communion of saints, they stay alive, are present in the Church.”