Dear Parishioners:
As I write this column on Monday morning before I leave for my annual retreat, I hope our new church boiler will be installed by the time I return. I pray that this project is completed by the end of this week.
We are grateful to Bob Bolton of Arden Engineering for helping us complete the boiler project. He is a longtime parishioner, and his sons graduated from our school. In fact, Arden installed the two new boilers in our school in 2024. The new church boiler is a Lochinvar high-efficiency boiler. Pray the weather stays warm until the boiler is up and running!
November is All Souls Month, as we pray for our beloved dead and especially remember the souls in Purgatory. Blessed Archbishop Fulton Sheen said: “As we enter Heaven, we will see them, so many of them, coming towards us and thanking us. We will ask who they are, and they will say, A poor soul you prayed for in Purgatory.' “ It is also a time to visit cemeteries and pray at the graves of our deceased family and friends.
Praying for souls in cemeteries who have no one to pray for them is an act of charity. Our first pastor, Fr. Patrick Lenihan, purchased the land in the 1850s to build St. Patrick's Cemetery. He died in 1857, and the cemetery was named in his honor. Needless to say, St. Patrick Cemetery has many old graves dating back to the 19th century, including some Civil War Veterans. Many of these souls have no family left to tend to their graves or pray for them. This November, perhaps we can go to a cemetery, choose an old grave, and pray for the soul resting in St.Patrick’s sacred ground.
There is a growing trend these days to use cremation when our loved ones die. Unfortunately, this sometimes leads to confusion, and sadly, at times the cremated remains are either left on a mantle, made into jewelry, or abandoned at the funeral home. The Church requires that cremated remains of the body be placed in a respectful vessel and treated in the same way that a family would treat a body in a casket. Since the human body has an eternal destiny in any form, the Church requires that cremated remains of a body be buried or entombed immediately after the Funeral in the same timely manner as a body.
Cremated remains of a loved one are not to be scattered, kept at home, or divided into other vessels among family members, just as it is clear that these practices would desecrate a body in a casket. The Church allows for burial at sea, provided that the cremated remains of the body are buried in a heavy container and not scattered.
All of these teachings on the treatment of cremated remains of the body correspond with our foundational belief in eternal life—both body and soul—in Jesus Christ among the Communion of Saints.
This week's bulletin includes an invitation from Catholic Cemeteries inviting those with unburied cremains to bury them in the sacred grounds of one of our ten Diocesan Cemeteries. So if you have a cremated loved one on your mantle, consider properly burying or entombing them.
In making cremation decisions, talk with a priest, your family, and friends. Pray for the gift of wisdom, faith, hope, and love. The Church clearly prefers and urges that the full body be present for the funeral rites. The Catholic funeral rites are sacred acts that help bereaved families through mourning, prayer, consolation, and separation from their deceased loved one.
This past week we had elections across our nation and state. I was on retreat on Election Day, and like Pope Leo, voted early by mail. The Pope "has exercised his right to vote as a United States citizen, whenever he was eligible to do so," according to the Vatican. It stated: "The Holy See Press Office confirms that in keeping with this long-standing practice of civic participation, he has submitted his mail-in ballot in Chicago." Pope Leo is the first Pope in history to vote in a U.S. election.
We pray for all the newly elected public officials, that they may serve with integrity, protect the sanctity of human life, respect the dignity of all, and serve the common good. May God guide, protect, and bless them in their public service. God Bless America!
Be well. Do good. God Bless. Go Pats!