When a Catholic family visits its faithful departed, the Diocese of Phoenix seeks to ensure that space is bathed in peace, a sense of God’s loving closeness and the joy of believing the individual is now with his or her heavenly Father, awaiting Jesus’ return to bring all believers home.
But when the diocese leaders considered the mausoleum at St. Francis Cemetery in Phoenix — its second-oldest burial ground — they knew an upgrade was in order to maintain that mission.
“Jesus had a human body,” Bishop John Dolan told a gathering at the mausoleum Friday.
“When He rose [from the dead], He rose body and soul,” the bishop continued.
“That’s what this mausoleum and this entire cemetery is about. It’s a reminder to us that we honor the body. When a person is baptized, the whole person is baptized — body and soul. And we honor that until the person — at the last day — is raised in a glorious manner,” he said.
“May the bodies buried here sleep in Your peace, to rise immortal at the coming of Your Son. May this place be a comfort to the living, a sign of their hope for unending life,” the bishop prayed.
His remarks came during a rededication and blessing of the mausoleum. The ceremony marked the end to a 5-month project that began in November to address concerns throughout the 53-year-old structure. The initial phase was built in the early 1970s.
“This is the first major renovation of the facility since it was constructed,” said Harry Antram, president and CEO of Catholic Cemeteries & Funeral Homes, the ministry that operates the diocese’s six cemeteries and two funeral homes.
The $2.6 million project included replacing asbestos ceilings, installing new LED lighting throughout the building, new polyurethane floor surfaces, new carpet, new tile, removing old paneling and replacing a nonfunctional fountain. New furniture was added to areas where there was none to allow families more space and time to pray — an update that should particularly help older visitors.
The work was funded by the ministry’s maintenance program, which is supported largely through plot, crypt and niche purchases.
“Part of our commitment to families we serve is that we invest back into our facilities to ensure they are maintained and perpetually cared for,” Antram explained.
Coupled with an extensive cleaning of existing statues and stained-glass windows, as well as a second-floor bronze wall of crypts, the improvements — especially the lighting — are intended to help visitors feel at home by connecting them to their faith.
“That is the beauty we wanted to preserve,” said Antram. “We hope families are happy with having a space that really speaks to their Catholicism.”
Opened in 1897, St. Francis is second in age only to Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Flagstaff, Ariz.
Its 50,000–square-foot mausoleum has a total of 6,446 crypts and 5,767 niches — including 464 available crypts and 2,711 niches, said cemetery manager Michaela Cannon.
An additional 4,938 lawn gravesites and lawn crypts are available.
Inside the mausoleum, families can opt to order niches with a clear glass front, a feature that becomes more attractive with the enhanced lighting.
“Families can place items inside the niche that reminds them of their loved one,” noted Cannon.
The clear glass makes it easier to see those names, keepsakes and other mementos.
During Friday’s ceremony, Bishop Dolan led a procession of about two dozen people through the hallways containing those niches, as well as the crypts, sprinkling holy water as he walked along.
Later, members of the faithful noted the facility’s improvements and their effects on its atmosphere.
“It makes you feel warm; before it was not. It’s beautiful. It’s nice,” smiled Dusanka Pilato, a parishioner of Blessed Sacrament in Scottsdale, Ariz. Pilato’s husband, mother, sister and brother are buried there.
“This is very nice,” said Agostino Tomaselli of St. Patrick Parish, also in Scottsdale, Ariz. Tomaselli has several family members there as well. He said it’s important to visit in a faith-friendly, peaceful atmosphere.
“This is our resting place. You want to sit and pray and not feel distracted,” he said.
St. Francis Xavier in Phoenix parishioner Monique Prehoda, who also is a member of the Catholic Cemeteries & Funeral Homes advisory board, agreed.
“It’s really important to have peace and quietness. You need that in your heart,” said Prehoda, whose grandparents are laid to rest there. “It’s clean and well lit. For me, the stained glass and art make it more welcoming.”
Designed by STG Design of Austin, Texas, and carried out by Keeley Construction of St. Loui — both of which have Phoenix offices — the project was finished without impacting or suspending mausoleum visits, said Keeley Senior Superintendent John Barrett.
St. Francis’ improvements won’t end with the mausoleum.
Antram said that over the next year, the diocese will invest $1.5 million in a new irrigation system throughout the grounds.
“That will allow automatic overnight watering, eliminating the need for employees to manually switch the systems on and off,” he explained. “It will provide a major improvement to the appearance and quality of the grounds, ensuring they stay lush and green.”
There also are long-range plans for an outside cremation garden and additional lawn crypts.
Other cemeteries are in line for upgrades, too.
Queen of Heaven in Mesa, Ariz. is getting a new 2,500–square-foot funeral home — making it the third in the diocese — and an outdoor mausoleum named for St. Joseph the Worker by mid-April.
Holy Cross in Avondale. Ariz. will receive a 1,500-square-foot addition to its funeral home later this year, and its mausoleum will be renovated. Holy Redeemer in North Phoenix will have its offices renovated early next year.
At two other sites, projects already have been finished.
Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Flagstaff, Ariz. has had its interior roads refurbished and has received a new partial irrigation system, Antram said.
And the property at All Souls Catholic Cemetery in Cottonwood, Ariz., has undergone extensive cleanup.
Burying the dead and care for the grieving, one of the Church’s seven Corporal Works of Mercy (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2300, based on the Gospel of St. Matthew, Chapter 25), is at the heart of these projects, as well as St. Francis’ upgraded mausoleum.
In one of his prayers there, Bishop Dolan noted such work also gives Catholics hope.
“May this place, prepared in the sure hope of the Resurrection, never cease to remind us of the life that we are to share in Christ, who will transform our earthly bodies to be like His in glory.”
