Families furious after crosses, decorations were found taken from graves and left in pile at Resurrection Catholic Cemetery
JUSTICE, Ill. (CBS) -- Dozens of Catholic families are preparing for the Holy Week full of frustration.
As CBS 2's Tim McNicholas reported Friday night, the families say Resurrection Catholic Cemetery in southwest suburban Justice a mishandled the crosses and decorations left on their loved ones' graves.
More than 40 people showed up and stood out in the rain Friday, all to share their stories and express their frustration with resurrection cemetery.
Many of the families say they recently left crosses and other decorations on their loved ones' graves – but they were gone within days. Then, they discovered the crosses in a pile on the ground at the Catholic cemetery.
"Like, were grieving," said Liliana Cardenas. "We come here to grieve, you know?"
Liliana Cardenas says it only adds to the pain of losing her mother in January.
"Being a Catholic, we didn't think that was possible to throw all of our crosses out and whatnot," she said.
The Archdiocese says they removed the items because of they broke their long-standing rules to ensure decorations don't obstruct their cleanup crews and lawnmowers.
"Our decorations are of no obstruction to anyone," Cardenas said.
"Rules are rules – we understand – but the crosses should never, ever be treated this way," added Magdalena Jaronczy.
Jaronczy says she was able to get one large cross back that had been removed from a gravesite, but she can't find the smaller one her 4-year-old son made out of Legos.
"It makes me sad that he asked for his grandpa every single night," Jaronczy said, "and he's so excited to make these things for his grandpa – and they're being removed and thrown out."
This is not the first time that families at the cemetery have spoken up about the removal of decorations. CBS 2's Jim Williams first covered their concerns in 2017.
"To come around see what I gave to her, you know, took time to do, and that I left for her is gone – it's traumatizing." Jennifer Koziel said at that time.
The Archdiocese insists crosses were not thrown away, but some small, very inexpensive decorations stuck directly into the ground may have been thrown out.
On Friday, the removed crosses were no longer piled on top of each other. Some of them were marked with a violation sticker, but many families said they were confused about what rules they broke.
"I don't know what was wrong," Jaronczy said.
"I feel horrible," added Stefania Furczon, whose son is buried at Resurrection. I'm angry, you know?"
The Archdiocese says they've assigned cemetery employees to help return the decorations to their owners. We'll be following up to see how that process goes.
The Archidiocese also says they regret any additional sorrow these families are facing, and the crosses were in the pile on the ground because the cleanup crew was still sorting through them for their inventory.
The full statement from the Archdiocese is as follows:
"Decoration regulations at Archdiocese of Chicago Catholic Cemeteries were instituted and have remained relatively unchanged since the early 1960s. Every year, there is a pervasive myth that our regulations are new. They are not. They remain in place to ensure that decorations left at graves do not obstruct our cleanup crews and lawnmowers.
"We have maintained that one decoration container is allowed per grave, and we have always said that all decorations (crosses, flowers, and statues) must be placed in a planter box, not stuck in the turf where they might be overlooked and damage a mower.
"To put another falsehood to rest: We do allow crosses and crucifixes as long and they adhere to our placement and size regulations.
"We have two major cleanups in March and October. In addition, our staff does a periodic review of decorations so that our lawnmowers are able to adequately service around graves and our vehicles are able to move through sections to complete interments.
"During our cleanups, in addition to removing old decorations, we will place a tag on crosses and other large items if they exceed our size limitations and appear to be custom made. The tag is a warning that if the decoration in question is not removed by the family within two weeks, our staff will place them in a special holding area near our maintenance buildings for the families to retrieve them. The sorting and inventorying can take a day or two, but we do not throw these items away. We have assigned cemetery personnel to assist with returning these items to their owners.
"We encourage our community members to decorate their loved one's grave as a show of love, healing and commitment to our faith. We appreciate our community's cooperation."
