RESTING PLACES

July 7, 2012 at 12:00a.m.

By LINDA M. LINONIS

boardman

Photos and paintings have captured picturesque images of old white frame country churches with neighboring cemeteries filled with weathered headstones.

Nowadays, many church-related cemeteries are not on church grounds but at other locations.

Westminister Presbyterian Church, 119 Stadium Drive, has a columbarium. That’s a place for the storage of cinerary urns, containers holding a deceased person’s cremated remains.

The term comes from the Latin columba (dove) and originally referred to compartmentalized housing for doves and pigeons called a dovecote.

Westminter’s columbarium was built in 2003, reported the Rev. David Joachim, pastor. It recalls the idea of church cemeteries but is decidedly modern.

It is constructed of brick and contains cylinders with cremains. Plaques bear the dates of deceased’s birth and death and may include a descriptive line.

“The idea surfaced here in the 1960s,” said the Rev. Mr. Joachim, who added it wasn’t acted upon until decades later.

“How appropriate is that ... being buried near your church,” he said. “It’s only natural to be here.”

The pastor said for many faithful, it is a fitting final resting place. He noted that they practiced their faith at the church and “worked here on projects and had their ministries here.”

“Why not be at the place where a focus of your life was?” he asked.

The columbarium is located unobstrusively on church grounds on a grassy site with landscaping. There’s a bench for family and friends to sit and reflect or say a prayer.

Mr. Joachim said the columbarium is no different from cemetery plots in that it is a final resting place. When cremains are interred, there is a prayer service, he said.

There are two columbariums, placed next to one another. There are 16 squares and each has two separate niches for cylinders of cremains. It’s the same idea as spouses buried next to one another. Some of the 64 niches are filled and most are already reserved.

Mr. Joachim said the church has limited the columbarium for use by church members. “That’s for practical reasons,” the pastor said, adding if something would happen to the church, it would be easier to work with members and families.

Sharyn Fees, communications ministry coordinator at St. James Episcopal Church, 7640 Glenwood Ave., said the church columbarium is located in the memorial garden on the grounds. Both were consecrated on Dec. 3, 2003. The planning was begun in 2000.

“It’s a peaceful place,” Fees said of the site, which has a brick walk and wall, which has served as the altar for some outdoor worship services.

There are 16 places, with two niches in each. Bronze plaques are markers.

“A few niches are filled,” she said.

Fees said the “lay weeders” care for the memorial garden and church grounds, working on Thursdays to mow, weed, water and plant. The “lay weeders” is a take-off of lay readers.

Benches provide seating for reflection in the memorial garden, where there also is a statue of St. Francis of Assisi.

Fees said the columbarium is restricted for use by current and former members.