The image of a long trip can help to understand life. Our experiences of birth, the stages of growth, navigating through all that happens in life, are like great voyage. E view this with a different eye because of our faith. We don’t travel alone, we are part of a believing community; this community supports us and marks major turning points and great moments with prayer and ritual.

Death is not simply an end of this trip. Death and life are of the same cloth. We see death with a different eye; we say in our funeral liturgy for all to hear, “Lord, for your faithful people life is changed, not ended.” As part of the great voyage, death is another stage along the way, celebrated by the believing community. The cemetery is part of this ritual.

We have our own cemeteries because we see death with that different eye. Catholic Cemeteries of the Diocese of Trenton exists to meet the needs of individuals and families before, at the time of death and burial, and throughout bereavement.

By setting aside a holy place for burial we provide a fitting environment for full liturgical celebrations. We believe that in death the human body deserves to be treated with respect and dignity. We also foster a type of remembering that is enlightened by faith and see death as a bridge to the community of saints. Our bond with the believing are not broken by death. We are “A Ministry of Hope in Eternal Life.”