Archbishop Vigneron blesses cremains from St. James in Ferndale, Our Lady of Fatima in Oak Park on All Souls Day at Holy Sepulchre
SOUTHFIELD — At cemeteries across the Archdiocese of Detroit, the faithful gathered Nov. 2 to pray that the dead may be cleansed from all attachments and stains of sin in order to be united with God in heaven.
It’s an ancient, pious tradition in the Church that goes back to Scripture and a moment of tremendous grace, said Detroit Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron, who celebrated Mass at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Southfield on All Souls Day.
“How blessed we are the Holy Spirit has brought us to this sacred place to pray for our own beloved dead, and indeed, the souls of all the faithful departed,” Archbishop Vigneron said at the start of Mass. “This is a place where so many have been buried in the confidence they will rise to eternal life. This is the fruit of the death and rising of Jesus. This is what the sacrifice is about, the sacrifice about to made present in our midst with the Sacrament.”
Faithful across the Archdiocese of Detroit brought the cremated remains of their loved ones to Holy Sepulchre Cemetery and Our Lady of Hope Cemetery in Brownstown Township as part of Catholic and Funeral Cemetery Services’ Gather Them Home initiative.
Archbishop Vigneron blessed the cremains brought to Holy Sepulchre after Mass, along with the cremains of 250 souls interred in the columbariums at the recently closed St. James Church in Ferndale as well as Our Lady of Fatima Church in Oak Park, which make up Our Mother of Perpetual Help Parish.
The parish contacted Catholic and Funeral Cemetery Services about transferring the cremains to Holy Sepulchre so parishioners past and present can still visit where their loved ones are interred.
“There will be two crypts in the garden mausoleum on the east side of the cemetery dedicated to these two churches and a wall of memorialization for the people who will be laid to rest,” Bob Hojnacki, director of cemeteries for the Archdiocese of Detroit, told Detroit Catholic.
Fr. Jeff Scheeler, OFM, a priest in solidum at the Church of the Transfiguration in Southfield and moderator of the South Oakland 5 Family of Parishes, which includes Our Mother of Perpetual Help, said it was a great relief to Our Mother of Perpetual Help parishioners to know the remains of past parishioners were being transferred to consecrated ground where they will be remembered and prayed for.
“They certainly will be remembered here, both sets of remains,” Fr. Scheeler said. “When the decision was made to close St. James, the discernment team wanted to have the remains available for people to visit. We have a separate crypt for St. James and Our Lady of Fatima, so families can still visit where their loved ones are.”
Since 2013, Catholic cemeteries in the Archdiocese of Detroit have laid to rest more than 8,000 cremains at no cost to be placed in the All Souls Remembrance crypts at Holy Sepulchre and Our Lady of Hope cemeteries.
Hojnacki said any family with cremated remains can contact either cemetery to have them interred in the crypts, where they will be prayed for every month during committal services.
“This program has been huge,” Hojnacki said of Gather Them Home. “It started about nine years ago, and since its inception, we’ve laid to rest almost 8,000 cremains that people have."
Hojnacki said the remains come from families who have kept ashes and urns at home and weren't sure what do with them, as well as cremains that have gone unclaimed at local funeral homes and morgues. Through Gather Them Home, the cemeteries accept and inter the cremains at no cost.
"People feel relieved they can put to rest their families at a Catholic cemetery," Hojnacki said. "Our employees feel good, knowing these families have trusted these remains in our care.”
During his homily, Archbishop Vigneron asked the faithful gathered to think about what it means to pray for the dead, and, specifically, what it means to pray for the dead so that they might reach the final goal — heaven.
“We begin by thinking about heaven itself; it’s not a big barbeque, it’s not some sort of divine resort. Heaven is about love,” Archbishop Vigneron said. “Heaven is about entering into the very communion that exists between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And we can only really participate in that divine love if we have no stain or taint of sins in our lives. As long as we do not love God the Father with the very love of the heart of His Son, we are not ready yet to enjoy the life and happiness of heaven."
It is the task of the living to pray for the dead that they might be united with God the Father in heaven and that all traces of sin be cleansed from their souls, the archbishop added.
All Souls Day, and every time the dead are remembered, is a chance to proclaim that death does not have the final say and that the departed are still in union with the Church on earth, one communion that gives thanks, praise and worship to God, particularly in the Eucharist, the archbishop said.
“The communion we have in the body of Christ is so strong that we are able to pray even for those who have passed out of this world,” Archbishop Vigneron said. “In Christ, death is not a burial, so our prayers can sustain even those who are engaged in this final form of conversion.”
Archbishop Vigneron reflected on the liturgy’s readings, from the Book of Wisdom proclaiming that the souls of the righteous are in the hands of the God, and the Gospel according to St. John, in which Christ promises his followers that anyone who believes in him will have eternal life.
The archbishop drew particular attention to St. Paul’s letter to the Romans, which states that being baptized with Christ means that they, too, have been baptized in Christ’s death and, therefore, Christ’s resurrection. This makes the day’s commemoration of the dead all the more poignant as the faithful realize they are not destined for the grave, but for God, and the prayers of the faithful assist the deceased on this journey.
“This is why we offer the Holy Eucharist for those who have gone before us,” Archbishop Vigneron said. “Because in the Holy Eucharist, this passage from death to life by Jesus, this passage to which our loved ones have immersed, has been made present under the appearances of bread and wine. The paschal Jesus, the Jesus who endured death, conquered death, trampled on death, rose from the dead, is made present here. So, you and I are able to join with Jesus in offering this Holy Sacrifice to the Father by which the souls of the dead are purified. That is the meaning of us gathered here today.”
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