Catholics Remember All Souls During Cemetery Field Masses

Tags: Currents All Saints Day, Bishop Paul Sanchez, Catholic Cemeteries, Catholic Church, Cemetery, Diocese of Brooklyn, Queens, NY

By Tim Harfmann

On this All Souls Day, hundreds remembered those who have returned to the Lord.

“Today you celebrate this special day for all our family and friends. I have to pray, too, for dead people that nobody remembers,” said Miria Castro, a Catholic who attended Mass on All Souls Day.

To make it possible, Brooklyn’s auxiliary bishops celebrated outdoor field Masses at five Catholic cemeteries.

Family and friends were there to be close to their loved ones.

“It’s their bodies: the arms that held you and the lips that kissed you. That’s really what you’re coming back [to] because you know that their souls are in heaven,” said Ann Furlong, who traveled from Long Island with her husband, Wilfrid, to remember his parents. They passed away more than four decades ago.

“It’s moving,” added Wilfrid.

Auxiliary Bishop Paul Sanchez celebrated Mass at Saint John’s Cemetery in Middle Village, Queens, on Saturday, November 2.

“We gather with our loved ones and pray that they rest in peace and pray that they are able to intercede for us; as we, the Church on earth, continue to look forward to the Kingdom of God,” said Bishop Sanchez.

Flora Wieczorek visited the cemetery’s mausoleum to pray for her husband, Steve, who lost his fight with cancer five years ago.

“[He was] my husband [for] 22 years. I come here to pray for my husband,” Flora said.

Thinking of her husband during Mass moved her to tears.

“He’s a special man in my life,” said added.

Wieczorek, and everyone at the Saint John’s field Mass, were grateful for the All Souls Day opportunity to pray for the faithful departed.