Cemetery Sunday: Day set aside to pray for the deceased, visit graves

Editor's note: Following a tradition begun in 1978, the president of the National Catholic Cemetery Conference (NCCC) issues a statement each year on the significance of this annual day of visitation to the sacred grounds of Catholic cemeteries across the U.S. and Canada. Realizing the difficulties families faced in participating in the Feast of All Souls on Nov. 2, the NCCC proposed that the observance of Catholic Cemetery Sunday be held on the first Sunday in November, which this year coincides with the actual feast day. This is a day set aside to pray for the deceased and to visit the graves of loved ones and friends in a show of respect to those who have gone on before.

By John J. O'Brien
FOR THE CATHOLIC HERALD

For we are well aware that when the tent that houses us on earth is folded up, there is a house for us from God, not made by human hands but everlasting, in the heavens.

2 Corinthians 5:1

These words of promise form part of the beautiful prayer of blessing that is said when visiting a cemetery.

When we recite St. Paul's affirmation, the imagery it evokes very clearly and definitively conveys not only our hope of resurrection, but that our only hope lies in the Resurrection of Jesus.

It is the message of Easter, the cornerstone of our faith as a Catholic, Christian people, spoken confidently and most assuredly.

Human frailties

St. Paul also speaks to us about our own human frailties when he compares that human body to a tent, which, if not properly secured, can fold up, collapse, or be blown away.

But when we look to what God shall provide, it is a house, a solid place of warmth, comfort, and security reserved for the faithful.

Hope of everlasting life

This is why we have and need Cemetery Sunday. Our personal journeys of faith, our struggles throughout our lifetimes are directed in the hope of embracing everlasting life. That is the very essence of the Catholic cemetery, that physical place of peace and remembrance that stands literally and figuratively at the brink, the new dawn promised to us.

For those who have passed through its gates have come home. They are our friends and family, they may be strangers, or they might only be known to God. One day it will be our turn; it will be you and me.

This Cemetery Sunday, Nov. 2, let us visit the cemetery and pray for those who have no one to pray for them or whose tents were perhaps not secure enough to withstand being buffeted by a lifetime of turbulence.

We might also say a prayer for ourselves that when we have been called home, our eternal house is ready and we will be greeted with the warm welcome, "Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take as your heritage the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world" (Matthew 25:33,34).

Prisoners: Promoting restorative justice

		Eye on the  Capitol  Barbara Sella

Recent federal and state reports on crime include both heartening and dispiriting news.

The heartening news is that according to a newly released report issued by the State of Wisconsin's Office of Justice Assistance, our violent crime rate is about 55.9 percent less than the 2001 national rate and violent offenses in the state have decreased by 12.5 percent between 1992-2002.

Violent crime is defined as murder, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault and it accounts for only 6.9 percent of all reported crimes in our state.

Prison population rises

The dispiriting news is that both nationally and statewide, the prison population continues to grow. The U.S. Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics released a first-time-ever longitudinal study of the number of people held in federal and state prisons. At the end of 2001, 5.6 million, that is, one in 37 adults in the U.S. were either in prison or had been.

In Wisconsin, the prison population grew three percent in 2002 to 22,133 incarcerated men and women. One particularly disturbing finding is that female incarcerations have been increasing at a greater rate than male ones. At the end of 2002, Wisconsin had 1,354 female prisoners.

Tougher policies

In Wisconsin, the increase in incarcerations can be traced back to policies of tougher sentencing, truth in sentencing, federal mandatory drug sentencing laws, three strikes-and-you're-out, and the practice of revoking parole for even minor infractions.

On the positive side, some of these policies may be partially responsible for the decrease in violent crime. On the negative side, incarcerating so many citizens is extremely expensive (nearly $26,000 per prisoner annually in 2002), does little to help those who struggle with mental illness or drug and alcohol addiction (an estimated 60-70 percent of inmates), and creates a large group of non-violent offenders who often face seemingly insurmountable obstacles once they leave prison.

Bishops' document

The Wisconsin bishops in their 1999 document, Public Safety, the Common Good, and the Church: A Statement on Crime and Punishment in Wisconsin, posed the question, "is a policy of allocating so many resources to locking people up without reforming them good stewardship which furthers the common good?"

Observing that most prisoners will some day be released, the bishops stressed that public policies "should serve to reunite the offender with the community and supportive institutions of family, church, and neighborhood. Policies should also foster healing of crime victims so that they too can be restored to the community and feel free to move about in it."

The bishops also called on everyone to promote restorative rather than retributive justice: "Reconciliation and restoration are not possible unless those rightly convicted of crimes accept the responsibility for what they have done and acknowledge that their crimes had consequences for others. Neither is restoration possible if law abiding citizens cannot set aside their pain and righteousness in favor of making the community whole again."

Unfortunately, in the face of the immensity and complexity of the problem, it is easy to overlook some of the root causes of crime, such as poverty, addiction, and mental illness.

People of faith, however, are called to something more than righteous anger and a desire for personal safety. We are called to love and responsibility, to mercy and justice towards all - inmates and ex-offenders included.

How people of faith are helping to bring hope to those inside and outside our state prisons will be the subject of a forthcoming column.

Barbara Sella is associate director of education and social concerns for the Wisconsin Catholic Conference.