The beginning of a new year brings with it so many different emotions when you find yourself in the position of a cemetery steward. Preparations must be made for the projects that will begin when the warm weather returns. With the first warm days of spring, teams of cemetery workers begin the process of clearing decorations, filling settled graves (and seeding them when the time is right), and a myriad of other projects to prepare for the families that will be visiting over the next several months. It is amazing to watch as the cemetery staff, along with performing our corporal work of mercy of burying the dead, are able to prepare 19 cemeteries for those who will travel to visit their deceased loved ones.

When the day of cleanup arrives, our field crews will remove hundreds of thousands of decorations and begin the process of cleaning up the damage left behind as winter releases its grip and spring pushes aside the snow and ice. Thousands of graves have settled under the snow and now must be re-leveled. The rush to set several thousand headstones before Memorial Day puts enormous pressure on our field staff as they try to meet the needs of all our grieving families. Know that while we look at the thousands of graves and hundreds of thousands of decorations, our staff understands that each family is focused on the place where their loved ones are interred.

As we begin the New Year and a plethora of projects commence, I ask that you take a look at all that is done to ensure that the places where your loved ones are interred are cared for with dignity and respect. I ask that as the warmth of spring returns that you have patience with our staff as they work very hard to ensure that our cemeteries are among the most beautiful places of final rest.

God Bless

-Andrej Lah, Director of the Catholic Cemeteries Association
January 2019