Grave Sin
PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) Mementoes and most decorations will be barred from grave sites at seven Catholic cemeteries, according to the Diocese of Providence.
''When we look at the thousands and thousands of people interred in our system and those families who come to these cemeteries, you want to make sure they convey a certain respect and dignity,'' says Arthur Lurgio, associate director of Catholic cemeteries for the diocese. ''Unfortunately what might seem wonderful to one may seem terrible to another.''
Increasingly, Lurgio told The Providence Journal, people are decorating their beloved's gravestones with plastic windmills, wind chimes, photographs, figurines and even balloons. The trend has generated more complaints, too, he said.
The diocese issued a statement Monday saying the policy barring all grave adornments except flowers was not new, but has not been enforced in recent years. It will be enforced as of July 1.
Some mementos are placed in the grass or they fall off the tombstones and break. ''There is a safety issue here'' if groundskeepers mow over them, Lurgio said.
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Gee whiz! I thought my Catholic cemetery was bad!
A good compromise would be to allow decorations at certain holidays. My cemetery does that for Christmas, Easter, Memorial Day, Mother's Day, and Father's Day. From November 1 to March anything goes too. However, when they clean up after those holidays they clean up... everything goes and people know this. They decorate and then they go and collect everything on the designated day.
YOu an keep stuff on the gravesites the rest of the year BUT if it is there in a Tuesday it will be removed so if you want something out there you have to get it on Monday night and then you can put it out Wednesday morning.
Now I use to complain about this, and then I visited St. Vincent's Cemetery in downtown Akron Ohio and realized that I had it good. St. Vincent (yes, the one where Lebron James came from) is in terrible disrepair with stones vandelized and no road upkeep.
It's nice to have a middle ground between St. Vincent's and the one in this article. I think the Cleveland Diocese has found it.