Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz celebrated an outdoor Mass on the feast of All Souls Nov. 2 at Calvary Cemetery.
Those who attended remained in their cars and tuned into a radio station to listen to the Mass.
During his homily, Archbishop Kurtz remembered those of the Archdiocese of Louisville who died in the previous year.
“We remember also all who are buried here (Calvary) and the faithful departed, especially those who have no one to pray for them,” he said.
Father Gerry Bell and Father Pepper Elliott, who both serve on the board of Catholic Cemeteries, concelebrated Mass.
Archbishop Kurtz recalled a funeral of a childhood friend he attended last week in his hometown in Pennsylvania. At the funeral, he shared remembrances from his neighborhood, particularly the front porches of houses that dotted his block.
“Any time there was nice weather, in the evening we’d be out on that front porch visiting with one another. There was a community that formed in that block,” he said.
He likened that to the communion of the saints, the spiritual union of members of the church, alive and dead.
“When we hear the readings of Sacred Scripture, we hear of the procession of those going to the Lord at the end of time,” he said.
All Souls’ Day, the archbishop said, is an opportunity to “rekindle our memory and our love and our prayers for the person who has died and gone before us.”
There is a need for “us to be joined to Jesus Christ in prayer” and “to be joined in praying for the sins of the faithful departed, something we forget these days,” he said.
On All Souls’ Day, Catholics recall the “gift of eternal life, that gift of turning away from sin and selfishness in our life,” he said.
