The Diocese marked the 10th Anniversary of Our Lady Queen of Peace Cemetery with a Mass on May 9. Bishop Gerald Barnes and Auxiliary Bishop Rutilio del Riego were joined by Diocesan leaders, ministers and more than 350 wellwishers at the Colton property.
“We did it solely because we are grateful to have a consecrated holy place to pray for our lost loved ones,” Deacon John Barna, Director of Catholic Cemeteries for the Diocese, said of the anniversary Mass.
The Mass began with the Bishop’s blessing of two mosaics, one of Our Lady of Guadalupe and the other of The Last Supper, that had been purchased for All Soul’s Chapel. The liturgy then continued outside the chapel. Most in the large crowd were family and friends of those buried in the cemetery. A banner with the names of all those buried at Our Lady Queen of Peace was hung on the front of the stage that held the altar.
Beginning with the first burial at the cemetery in 2006, 1,100 people have been laid to rest at Our Lady Queen of Peace Cemetery. In addition, 12,000 families have pre-planned burial at the cemetery, which offers single or double lawn crypts for ground burial, as well as a mausoleum for entombment and inurnment.
Seven of the cemetery’s 30 acres have been developed. Already 95 percent of the double lawn crypts, which are the most popular type of burial space, have been sold.
Deacon Barna said the sales at Our Lady Queen of Peace, particularly in its first five years, exceeded expectations. Many secular cemeteries in the area had established sections for Catholics, making it more challenging to establish a purely Catholic cemetery, he said.
“Who would have thought we’d have an entrance like this,” he said, referring to the strong sales numbers, “when you have no tradition of having a Catholic cemetery anywhere in the Diocese.”