It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins. (2 Maccabees 12:46).
Calvary Cemetery on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue in East Knoxville near Immaculate Conception Church.
Here in the northern hemisphere, as the sun rises a little later each morning and sets a little earlier each afternoon, there is a sense of time passing by as yet another year draws to a close.
In our Catholic tradition, the month of November is dedicated in a special way to remembering and praying for those who have died. Just as remembering the dead is an important human duty, so too praying for the dead is an important Christian one.
When we remember those who have died, we acknowledge our common humanity with them. For, like us, they lived, loved, worked, succeeded and failed, hoped and dreamed – both for themselves and for their families.
And, like them, we too must eventually die. Our Christian faith, however, redefines for us the universal experience of dying and unites us with those who have gone before us not just in our common humanity but in what the Apostles’ Creed calls “the communion of saints.”
Modern society seems increasingly inclined to downplay death. Christian hope, in contrast, causes us both to treat all of life as a preparation for a good death and not to neglect our duty to pray for those who have gone before us. This is why celebrating a proper Catholic funeral for the deceased is so important. It is an especially privileged moment when the entire Church visibly intercedes on behalf of the recently deceased.
But the Church’s intercession is on-going, which is why at every Mass there is explicit prayer for those who have died.
Since 1869, Immaculate Conception Church has maintained Calvary Cemetery. Father Michael Finnegan, Immaculate Conception’s pastor from 1868 to 1872, celebrated the first burials there and purchased the property for the parish. Located at 2000 Martin Luther King Blvd. in
East Knoxville (adjacent to the burial site of Confederate soldiers killed at the Battle of Fort Sanders), Calvary remains the only Catholic cemetery in Knoxville, with 11 burials there thus far in 2014.
Annually on the first Sunday of November, which this year falls on All Souls Day itself, we gather at Calvary Cemetery as a parish community, together with representatives from Holy Ghost parish, to recite the rosary together for the eternal rest of all those buried there and for all the faithful departed. I invite you to participate in this important community tradition
and join our annual Rosary Procession at Calvary Cemetery on Sunday,
Nov. 2, at 2 p.m.
The care and maintenance of Calvary Cemetery continues to be a responsibility of Immaculate Conception Parish. Eventually, revenues from the sale of burial plots and burials will cease. So the eventual goal must be to maintain the cemetery solely through the Perpetual Care Fund.
Please consider a contribution to our cemetery’s Perpetual Care Fund in memory of your loved ones and fellow parishioners who are buried there. Special All Souls Day Cemetery Fund envelopes are available at Immaculate Conception Church.
