Catholic Cemeteries to host All Souls’ Day Masses, Nov. 2

KANSAS CITY, KAN. ----- Catholic Cemeteries of Northeast Kansas will host special All Souls’ Day Masses in three of its cemeteries, Saturday, Nov. 2. 

The Masses commemorate persons who have died in recent months and are buried in the Catholic cemeteries.

The observance also gives area Catholics the opportunity to remember their faithful departed family members and friends. Persons are invited to attend Mass at the location most convenient to them:

• 9 a.m. at Holy Family Chapel, Resurrection Cemetery, 83rd and Quivira Rd., Lenexa, Kan.; Rev. Jeremiah Spencer, celebrant; special remembrance of persons buried between July 9 through Oct. 11.

• 9 a.m. at Holy Redeemer Chapel, Gate of Heaven Cemetery, 126th and Parallel, Kansas City, Kan.; Rev. John Riley, celebrant; remembering persons buried between July 9 through Oct. 11.

• 10 a.m. at Mt. Calvary Cemetery, 801 S.W. Westchester Rd., Topeka, Kan.; Rev. Gerald Volz, celebrant; Msgr. Vincent Krische, concelebrant; commemorating persons buried between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30.

For more information, call 913-371-4040 (Kansas City area) or 785-272-0820 (Topeka), or email information@cathcemks.org.

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church to bless animals

KANSAS CITY, KAN. ---- St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 1300 N. 18th St., Kansas City, Kan., will hold services of healing and remembrance Sunday, Oct. 6 in honor of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and the environment.

Services will be at 10 a.m. in English and 1:30 p.m. in Spanish. Your pets, live and stuffed "cuddly" animals, will be blessed.

There also will be a blessing of animals on the front yard of the church between services.

For more information, telephone 913-321-3535.

New Veterans Memorial to be dedicated in western Wyandotte County next Saturday

By THERESE HORVAT

The new Veterans Memorial at Gate of Heaven Cemetery, 126th and Parallel Parkway, Kansas City, Kan., will be dedicated on Saturday, Oct. 27, by the Most Rev. Joseph F. Naumann, archbishop of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas.

Archbishop Naumann will celebrate Mass at 10 a.m. in the Holy Redeemer Mausoleum Chapel at the cemetery. Rev. Msgr. Gary Applegate, judicial vicar, will be master of ceremonies.

Following Mass, Archbishop Naumann will bless the outdoor memorial in a brief ceremony.  Area veterans and community residents are invited to attend.

While located in a Catholic cemetery, the memorial is intended to remember and honor veterans of all faiths, from all wars, both living and deceased.

The U.S. flag waves over the new memorial that includes monuments and flags representing the five branches of the United States Armed Forces. The monuments feature etched granite replicas of each service’s emblem.

Connecting the five monuments are granite walls, on which family members and friends can remember veterans by having their names engraved, explained Robert W. Chenoweth, executive director of Catholic Cemeteries.

Names can also be engraved on bricks that line the path leading up to the memorial.