| March 4, 1993
Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Lord:
Congratulations to the Cincinnati Catholic Cemetery Society on its
one-hundred and fifty years of service to the Church in Cincinnati.
The Catholic Cemetery shares the mission of the Church: to teach, to
make holy and to unify.
Christian burial, and therefore the cemeteries where Christian burial
takes place, is intended to make a statement. The statement is that
human beings are not throw away creatures, men and women whose meaning
is exhausted once their earthly life is over. Rather, the way we treat
our dead is meant to remind us that we are all important to the Lord
God, that our lives on earth were important enough to be touched by the
grace of Christ, and important enough to last forever in glory with
Christ. Likewise, our reverence for the dead is meant to remind us that
none of us lives or dies alone, that we are all members of the one
living body of Christ and that our future destiny is a destiny of
togetherness with all those who live forever in Christ.
In the general context of the Church, therefore, Catholic cemeteries
have a teaching function. They are intended to teach the members of the
Church about the earthly life that has ended. They are intended to teach
about the eternal life that has now begun and that will reach its
fulfillment in the final resurrection of the dead. Cemeteries are a
quiet lesson, a sermon in silence about what the church believes.
At the same time, though, there is a dimension of holiness in the
Catholic cemetery. Those who are buried there were holy on earth because
of their incorporation into Christ. They are holy in heaven because of
their eternal association with Christ. In addition to that, the Catholic
cemetery also contributes to the holiness of the people still on earth
by increasing their own sense of worth in God's sight and by bringing
home to them their connection with those who have entered the Church
triumphant.
It's obvious that Catholic cemeteries are also concerned with unity.
At the pragmatic level, Catholic cemeteries participate in the unity of
the local church by their conformity to diocesan laws and regulations.
At a deeper level, Catholic cemeteries proclaim the unity of all
believers in the life, and death of the one risen Christ.
This is the place of Catholic cemeteries in the ministry and work of
the Church: primarily in the realm of teaching, but also in the realm of
holiness and unity.
I am grateful to the Cincinnati Catholic Cemetery Society for being a
part of the work of the Church for so long.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Most Rev. Daniel E. Pilarczyk
Archbishop of Cincinnati |
