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St. Agnes Plot Owners Protest Cemetery |
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Written by DeadGirl
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Thursday, 07 July 2005 |
St. Agnes Plot Owners Protest Cemetery
Mourners are still frustrated with St. Marys decision to remove grave items.
Published on 7/7/2005
New London Day
Branford, CT - Mourners and cemetery plot owners are still unhappy with St. Marys decision to remove memorial grave items, so much so that they held a protest on June 28. The vocal protestors held signs and made their disapproval known, especially against St. Mary pastor Father Robert Ford.
The dispute centers around the parishs recent enforcement of grave decoration rules at St. Agnes cemetery. The removal of items from graves last month sparked outrage by plot owners who have been seeking a resolution to the matter.
According to the protestors, the church has shown a callous disregard to mourners and plot owners in this decision. For their part, officials at St. Mary, the body that controls the cemetery, say they are caught in a no-win position in trying to accommodate a number of differing views.
More than 100 people signed a petition last week that was given to St. Mary and Father Ford. The petition calls for a resolution in regards to the matter and expresses the mourners anger over what they see as the unnecessary action in removing the items.
St. Marys officials have expressed their dismay at the vocal reaction and are concerned that the dispute has developed into a personal attack on Ford.
We feel there are issues here that go beyond just the cemetery. Many are happy with the way the cemetery now looks. We are obviously unhappy that a group is still unhappy but our cemetery guidelines are no different than any other cemeterys, especially Catholic cemeteries, said Ford.
Sue Bibbins, whose son is buried at St. Agnes, is one of the critics of the churchs new implementation of these guidelines.
This makes me very angry. Father Ford and the archdiocese want us to just go away and thats not going to happen, said Bibbins.
Those who have loved ones buried at St. Agnes feel the church, and in particular Father Ford, have not been responsive to their concerns. Several critics have suggested that they will pursue legal action against the church and Ford in the matter.
Some people are expressing the possibility of taking Father Ford to small claims [court]. These items [on the graves] were approved long before Ford took over and he just ripped stuff off the graves. Thats vandalism--he cant do that, said Bibbins.
Ford has expressed regret over the opposition of the protestors but reiterated his belief that he and the church have done all they can to appease the mourners and that the rules at St. Agnes are no different than other area Catholic cemeteries.
The main issue as I see it is that taste and spirituality and how a person expresses that is very subjective. We dont want to be in the position of being a judge. That is why all Catholic cemeteries have this policy. We do not want to be in a position of where we have to say, Thats okay but that isnt. That is just too subjective, said Ford.
Mourners such as Bibbins see the issue in a different light. They feel that Ford disregarded their concerns and should have reached a compromise with them before the situation escalated to this point.
I think its a power trip, he should have apologized the first day that the issue was raised. This should have been solved a month ago. For 38 years this was never a problem, why is it suddenly an issue? We are not going to stop. We are not going away. This is not over. We are not stopping until there is a fair and reasonable compromise. We are done being ignored, said Bibbins.
Peter B. Reilly, another local resident who is upset by the recent enforcement, said that attempts at arbitration or mediation have been met with resistance by Ford and the church.
I proposed that he [Ford} and representatives of those opposed to the regulations meet with a professional mediator to seek options that might satisfy the interests of both sides of the issue, said Reilly. Father Ford stated that he cannot imagine any alternative circumstances that would improve on the current regulations. I said that the purpose of involving a mediator would be to seek out alternative options that the parties havent imagined. He flatly turned down the proposal for mediation.
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