The St. Patrick Children’s Choir provided prelude music for the service held at Calvary Cemetery. (Record Photo by Gabrielle Krumpelman) 
Families and friends received free glass ornaments to personalize with the names of loved ones. The ornaments were provided by Catholic Cemeteries. (Record Photo by Gabrielle Krumpelman) 
A girl personalized an ornament in memory of a loved one to hang on the Tree of Remembrance. (Record Photo by Gabrielle Krumpelman) 
Kimberly Buckman, a member of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, hung an ornament on the Tree of Remembrance. She returns to re-hang ornaments for loved ones each year. (Record Photo by Gabrielle Krumpelman) 
Archbishop Shelton J. Fabre offered a blessing during the prayer service and tree lighting ceremony. (Record Photo by Gabrielle Krumpelman) 
Jordan Blair lifted her daughter, Isabella, to hang an ornament on the Tree of Remembrance in memory of loved ones at Calvary Cemetery Dec. 5. (Record Photo by Gabrielle Krumpelman)
In 32-degree weather, a crowd of about 400 people gathered around Calvary Cemetery’s Tree of Remembrance for the annual prayer service and tree-lighting Dec. 5.
Families and friends personalized ornaments in memory of their departed loved ones and then hung them from the tree, whose branches were heavy with ornaments by the end of the evening. The St. Patrick Children’s Choir provided a backdrop of Christmas carols.
The annual event provides an opportunity for people to formally remember their loved ones amid the holidays.
Archbishop Shelton J. Fabre, who led the prayer service, told the crowd, “What we do here tonight is something that is incredibly human. It’s human to want some kind of a ritual to remind us, because rituals take over when words really don’t capture everything.”
Families may add their own ornaments to the tree or receive free ornaments to personalize in the Catholic Cemeteries office, located in Calvary Cemetery at 1600 Newburg Road. The tree will remain adorned until Jan. 6.
Families may collect the ornaments before Jan. 6; the cemetery will bury those remaining.
