Columbarium Exploratory Committee

A columbarium is an outdoor structure with niches (compartments) where urns containing the cremains of our loved ones are placed. For many raised in the Catholic Church a Columbarium is a new concept, though it has its roots in the early church. A Columbarium at St. Rose will offer parishioners and their families the option to make St. Rose their final sacred home.

"...The Catholic Church permits cremation, provided that it does not demonstrate a denial of faith in the resurrection of the body." Catechism of the Catholic Church #2301. The Church wants to insure that we are interred in a sacred Place on Consecrated Ground so that we are never excluded from the prayers of our Catholic Community. A Columbarium on St. Rose grounds would ensure a dignified resting place where we would never be forgotten in prayer as we await the joyful hope of the coming of our Savior.

With input from Fr. Chris, Wayne Overman from the Master Plan and other parish leaders the space behind the Church Office known as “Mary’s Grotto,” where the statue of our Blessed Mother now stands, has been selected. It provides a peaceful, quiet, private space right next to the Church.

The entire Columbarium complex will be designed with 200 years of St. Rose needs in mind. However, construction will follow in a planned series of Phases as the need in the future arises.

All costs for construction and future maintenance of the Saint Rose Columbarium will be paid for entirely by the sale of the niches in the Columbarium. No Parish Stewardship Funds or Master Plan Building Funds will be used. Before any construction of the St. Rose Columbarium can begin, there must be enough funds generated by the PRE-SALE of NICHES in not more than a 1 year period to cover all of the Phase 1 construction costs and a Trust Fund to cover all future maintenance costs.

A Parish Survey being planned. Our Diocese requires Parishes considering a Columbarium to Survey their parishioners. 33% of parishioners must vote in the survey and 75% of those voting must be in favor of having a Columbarium. Parishioners ARE NOT voting to say they want to use the Columbarium, they ARE JUST VOTING to say they are in favor of having one at their Parish.

If the Survey is successful, niche pre-sales are planned to begin in early 2025. A single niche will hold up to 2 urns. Cremains of family members will be able to be moved to our Columbarium.

Purchasing your niche in advance provides the funding needed for construction of our Columbarium and the future Maintenance Trust Fund. These both must be funded entirely by niche pre-sales. Pre-planning our final arrangements is the best way to insure that our final wishes are known and will secure a Phase 1 niche at a pre-construction cost savings.

Columbium Exploratory Committee members are needed! If you have a legal background, finance experience, speak Spanish and English, have construction management experience or just believe in a Sacred Home at St. Rose like we do, please email Tom Fix at tomfix@comcast.net

There has been much discussion about traditional burial versus cremation. The first 2 FAQs below are from the “CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH, Instruction Ad resurgendum cum Cristo Regarding the Burial of the Deceased and the Conservation of the Ashes in the Case of Cremation.”

“The Church raises no doctrinal objections to the practice, since cremation of the deceased’s body does not affect his or her soul, nor does it prevent God, in his omnipotence, from rising up the deceased body to new life. Thus cremation, in and of itself, negates neither the Christian doctrine of the soul’s immortality nor that of the resurrection of the body.” Cf. Holy Office, Instruction Piam et costantem, 5 July 1963:AAS 56 (1964) 822.

“The church continues to prefer the practice of burying the bodies of the deceased, because it shows a greater esteem toward the deceased.” CIC, can. 1176 § 3; cf. CCEC, can. 876 § 3.

In 1963 the Vatican’s Holy Office lifted the prohibition against cremation.

Permission was incorporated into the revised Code of Canon Law (Canon # 1176) and the Order of Christian Funerals in 1983.

Over 33% of Catholics today elect cremation and the number is growing every year. Thus, the Church allows the choice of cremation or traditional burial to be made by each individual Catholic.

Yes. In fact the Diocese of Nashville has Columbaria available at the diocesan cemetery, Calvary Cemetery on Lebanon Road in Nashville. Holy Family Catholic Community in Brentwood has Columbaria available now for their parishioners. St. Steven's Catholic Community in Mount Juliet, Our Lady of the Lake in Hendersonville and St. Henry Catholic Church in Nashville are in the process of developing their own Columbaria on their campuses. Almost 25% of Catholic Parishes in the United States now have a Columbarium.

Yes. Numerous major congregations in Murfreesboro have Columbaria already built and available for their congregations. They are: First United Methodist Church on Thompson Lane, First Presbyterian Church on Spring St., Saint Mark’s United Methodist Church on N. Rutherford Blvd. and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on Academy St.

You can sell your current cemetery space to someone else or you can donate your space to our Parish or our Diocese.

No. These practices have never been allowed by the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church also forbids the spreading of ashes in rivers, lakes or forests etc. Our Saint Rose Columbarium niches will be able to hold up to 2 separate urns in each.

Our Nashville Diocese requires that before our Columbarium can begin to be built, enough niches must be sold in just 12 months to fund all Phase 1 construction and endow a trust fund to cover all future maintenance. If enough niches are not pre-sold in 12 months all funds paid for niches must be refunded. All of the Phase 1 niches do not have to be pre-sold; just enough must be pre-sold to fund construction and the maintenance trust fund.

No. A niche purchase does not constitute a sale of property but is the provision for an eternal burial space in our Columbarium. All ownership of the land, Columbarium and surrounding gardens will remain with our Saint Rose of Lima Parish.

A Saint Rose Columbarium Board will be formed that will manage the niche sales, upkeep, future expansion and maintenance of our Columbarium funded by niche sales only.

Internment in our Columbarium is currently planned to be available to all current and former members of our Saint Rose Parish community and their immediate family members. All others may be considered on a case by case basis by the Saint Rose Columbarium Board.

YES. If a Saint Rose parishioner is married to a non-Catholic or has non-Catholics in their immediate family, they are planned to be allowed to utilize our Columbarium so families can remain together in their Sacred Home.

YES. A traditional Catholic Funeral Mass can be performed before or after cremation and may include a Committal Service immediately following the Funeral Mass at our very own Columbarium right outside our Church with a bereavement reception, if desired, in the Jo Call Room.

NO. The cremains of each individual Catholic must be interred in their own urn. Our Saint Rose niches will be deigned to hold up to 2 urns each.

NO. Scattering of ashes on the sea or a lake, from the air, over the ground or being kept at the home of a relative or friend is not the reverent disposition the Catholic Church requires per the Order of Christian Funerals, Appendix II.

The Catholic Church requires that all cremains must be interred either in a grave buried in consecrated ground or in a columbarium built on consecrated ground like our Saint Rose Columbarium would be.

YES. Parishioners are encouraged to please utilize the new Saint Rose Columbarium to inter loved ones in a permanent consecrated Catholic Church approved Eternal Home.

YES. Traditional services may continue as usual in the Church and include a Committal Service at the columbarium.