Bulletin Q&A Article; Published 11-17-24:
I plan on being buried at Great Lakes National Cemetery next to my late husband. I have a concern since it is not a Catholic cemetery. Will my grave be blessed?
Catholic cemeteries are special. As I indicated in a bulletin article from last year (https://orthoscopy.net/index.php/2023/11/15/catholic-cemeteries/), they, along with churches, are the only places considered sacred. Canon #1205 states: “Sacred places are those which are designated for divine worship or for the burial of the faithful by a dedication or a blessing.” And Canon #1240 states: “Where possible, the Church is to have its own cemeteries or at least areas in civil cemeteries that are designated for the deceased members of the faithful and properly blessed. If this cannot be achieved, however, then individual graves are to be properly blessed.”
To answer today’s question, I contacted Great Lakes National Cemetery to see if they had a “Catholic” section, or if, in fact, the whole cemetery was blessed or consecrated in some way. I received this response: “The grounds of the cemetery were blessed by multiple religious denominations prior to our first burial. As a VA National Cemetery, we are as accommodating as possible, but we do not segregate Veterans. Veterans and eligible family members are buried based off cemetery operations and usually in the next available grace site so we can complete the most amount of burials for our Veterans and their eligible family members.”
I followed up and asked if I could assume that the Catholic Church was one of those religious denominations, and I received this response: “That is a very safe assumption, I believe it may have been Father Dave, or whomever was heading up Saint Rita’s in Holly (if the VA did not bring their own Catholic Priest out).”
Again, if there is any doubt whether a cemetery is blessed, the individual grave can be blessed at the time of burial. There is a specific prayer in the Rite of Committal for this purpose.