ROCKFORD—The Catholic Church believes in treating the human body with dignity, including after death.

The Church teaches that bodies, no matter the form, must be buried or entombed. A deceased human body was, after all, a home for the Holy Spirit.

The Catholic Cemeteries Office in the Diocese of Rockford has been working to provide a new option for the unburied, cremated remains of Catholics and their family members to rest in peace in a permanent place.

Carol Giambalvo, CCCE, director of Catholic Cemeteries, describes this newest Corporal Work of Mercy effort is described in a recent Catholic Cemeteries’ newsletter.

“As part of the ministry of Catholic Cemeteries, we are offering to any person who has the cremated remains of a loved one — and who cannot afford the cost of burying their loved one in a Catholic cemetery – a communal space,” she writes.

New, granite columbarium at St. Mary/St. James Cemetery in Rockford has 80 niches available for purchase at $1,600 each.

The stone covering each niche is engraved, generally with the person’s name and their year of birth and of death.

However, this style of columbarium also has a hollow center where the cremated remains of about 500 people may be placed.

Each of the 500 remains will be buried in what are called “silk urns,” which resemble narrow pillows.
Inurnment in that communal space is available for $150; which includes the silk urn and all interment costs.

For another $150, the loved one’s name and their years of birth and death will be engraved on a black granite “ribbon” that circles the structure.

Either way, the cemetery will record as usual the location of each person who is buried anywhere in the cemetery.

A tag with an identifying number will be attached to each silk urn. But unlike with individual niches, once a person’s remains are interred in that communal space they cannot be disinterred.

Four columbaria of this kind are planned for St. Mary/St. James Cemetery. They will be stationed around the circle that is reserved for burial of priests. The area will be landscaped with walkways and plantings.

“We are also planning on individual above-ground niche spaces placed along the walkway,” Giambalvo says in the newsletter. “These include, but are not limited to: benches, pedestals, and cremation monuments. We also hope to use the walkways in this area for cremation graves, for those who prefer in-ground burial rather than above-ground.”

She spoke earlier about the need for such a structure with its communal space.

Funeral homes are required to keep – for six months or more – the boxes of cremated remains that have not been claimed, but eventually they have the right to dispose of those remains, Giambalvo says. Several years ago, Calvary Cemetery in Rockford provided an unused crypt space for the unclaimed remains of 100 people at the request of an area funeral home.

But even claimed containers of cremated remains may end up on mantels or garage shelves. As time passes, the caretakers of those remains will age, and other people may find themselves inheriting the cremated remains of persons who were not a part of their lives.

With the new columbaria, the Catholic Cemeteries ministry is, Giambalvo says, “trying to find a way for a permanent place for the cremated remains … a place where people can go and remember their loved ones.”

For more information, contact the Catholic Cemeteries Office at 815/965-1450.