Columbaria Revive a Church Graveyard Tradition

c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Just outside Fredericksburg (Va.) United Methodist Church, an arc-shaped wall hugs the church’s quiet meditation garden and outdoor fountain. A closer look at the wall reveals 360 niches and the names of deceased members of the congregation. The columbarium, which holds urns containing ashes of the dead, was installed […]

c. 2007 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) Just outside Fredericksburg (Va.) United Methodist Church, an arc-shaped wall hugs the church’s quiet meditation garden and outdoor fountain. A closer look at the wall reveals 360 niches and the names of deceased members of the congregation.

The columbarium, which holds urns containing ashes of the dead, was installed two years ago and is part of a growing trend of churches that are reverting back to the old church graveyard tradition in a modern way.


“Rather than buying plots in a cemetery in which they have no connection, to be buried at their church where they’ve worshipped and celebrated their life is meaningful to many people,” said the church’s senior pastor, Larry Lenow.

Part of the increase can be traced to the rising popularity of cremation. The use of cremation has risen to 30 percent from 20 percent since the mid-1990s, according to the Cremation Association of North America. The association projects that by 2025, the rate will be 50 percent.

The phenomenon of interring those ashes at churches is especially seen in mainline Protestant churches. Russell Vacanti, design director for Armento Liturgical Arts based in Buffalo, N.Y., whose company completes about 11 columbarium jobs a month, said 85 percent of Armento’s work is with the Episcopal Church, followed by Presbyterian, Methodist and Lutheran churches.

Lenow said in a world where people live in more than one city in their adult lives, it seems natural for people to turn back to their places of worship when thinking of a final resting place.

“It’s almost like things come full circle,” Lenow said. “We celebrate birth, life, death and life beyond death (in the church). I suspect you’re going to find this as very much a growing trend in the decades ahead.”

At Lenow’s church, each niche can hold the urns of two individuals and sells for $2,000. They are only sold to members of the church or people connected to the church.

Other churches opt for indoor columbaria. National City Christian Church in Washington, D.C., built its 865-niche columbarium in 1986.


“People from all over the U.S. come to (live and work in) Washington,” said Wes Strotman, facilities chairman of National City Christian Church Foundation. “It felt logical to have a central place for people to be taken to instead of a cemetery. It’s one of these changing things. Fifty years ago, you wouldn’t have heard of this kind of thing around here.”

The Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and author of “My Life With the Saints,” said worship around the tombs of saints is an ancient tradition. Early Christians worshipped in the catacombs _ secret underground burial caves _ and some of the first churches were erected over the tombs of martyrs.

“The worship and the respect that takes place in columbaria and graves … reminds us that the people who went before us were real human beings,” Martin said. “They weren’t legends or mythical figures. This reminds us of our own call to holiness as embodied people.”

The increase in demand for church columbaria has its roots in many factors.

Paul Eickhof, president of Minnesota-based Eickhof Columbaria Inc., saidcremation is cheaper and requires less land. He said people today better understand their various burial options, including cremation.

His company has seen a 200 percent increase in church-sited columbaria installations in the past 10 years. The company’s initial market in the late 1980s was cemeteries. Now they complete about three and a half church columbaria per month.

“In years past when someone passed away, there was only one place you went _ the local undertaker,” Eickhoff said. “There was only one place you were buried, and that was in the cemetery plot.”


Those plots are not as obtainable as they once were. Metropolitan cemeteries are filling up, said Paul Pinigis, technical sells representative for Architarium, an Austin, Texas, company that has been building columbaria for more than 80 years.

Pinigis said most orders come from churches. The structures can be a form of church income by selling space in their columbaria.

“The columbaria systems today are superior to what was available 10 years ago,” Pinigis said. “Because of that, the cost is more affordable for the churches, giving them a quality product.”

Some churches find it simpler because they’re dealing with urns instead of bodies and caskets. They don’t have to hire anyone to dig holes with heavy equipment or deal with “all the difficult things that require cemetery overhead and equipment,” Eickhoff said.

And it’s easier for families to visit their loved ones.

“The folks that are inurned in the church congregation are part of a church family,” Vacanti said. “Usually they’re there once a week anyway. It’s very convenient.”

Strotman, the facilities chairman of the D.C. church, is around the columbarium daily.

“Me and my wife have ours picked out,” he said. “The children may not like our idea of cremation 1,000 percent, but we made the decision.”


KRE/RB END BIRDPhoto of the columbarium at National City Christian Church are available via https://religionnews.com.

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