By Armando Machado | Correspondent

 "Death is not something to be feared.”

During the solemn consecration and dedication of St. Anne Mausoleum, Wall Township, April 26, Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., saw the occasion as a time to catechize the gathering of 175 on the importance of celebrating the lives that people live on earth and to know they will have even a better life with Jesus in heaven.

Click here to view photo gallery on this story

“We gather to celebrate the consecration of this sacred place,” Bishop O’Connell said, as he spoke about the exceptional beauty of the interior and exterior of the mausoleum, and the chapel that contains four stained glass windows.

The Bishop was the principal celebrant of a Mass in the mausoleum that was held on Good Shepherd Sunday.

 The mausoleum is in St. Anne Cemetery, 1610 Allenwood Road. Construction began in December 2012; the projected cost was $5.9 million. The building measures 25,000 square feet and has a capacity for 2,400 entombments and 1,200 niches for cremains. About 100 people are entombed to date. The transfer of deceased individuals began last October — individuals who had already purchased a crypt or cremation niche before the project ended. The first to be entombed was Msgr. Thomas Luebking, the former pastor of St. Catharine-St. Margaret Parish, Spring Lake, who began overseeing planning of the project in June 2005. Msgr. Luebking died in July 2014, about six months before the project was completed.

 “When Jesus was about to die, at the Last Supper, he prayed for unity among his followers,” said Bishop O’Connell. “He not only wants us to be in relationship with him as shepherd but with others in his flock. That’s the kind of good shepherd Jesus is. He wants us to love one another.”

 Father Harold Cullen, current pastor of St. Catharine- St. Margaret Parish, Spring Lake, was among the concelebrants of the Mass. He expressed words of gratitude to the bishop for celebrating the liturgy, and to all who helped make the mausoleum project possible, especially Msgr. Luebking, who is buried the area behind the altar. Richard Cambron, project manager, said the mausoleum in St. Catharine Cemetery is filled to capacity.

 Candy Veturys reflected on how her brother, Msgr. Luebking, had put a “lot of thought into this place.”

“They did a very good job,” Veturys said of the mausoleum project. Of Bishop O’Connell, she added that, “he’s a wonderful speaker – very down to earth.”

Thomas and Mari Jean Kelly of St. Martha Parish, Point Pleasant, paid tribute to their 28-year-old son, John Kelly, who died in early April and is buried in the mausoleum. “We’re blessed to be here — it helps to bring us closer,” Thomas Kelly said. “It’s very peaceful here — it’s a very nice place.”

 Cornelius Sullivan of St. Dominic Parish, Brick, shared that his late wife, Margaret, who died last year, is also buried in the mausoleum.

“It’s a beautiful place — very beautiful,” Sullivan, adding that he was grateful for the Bishop’s “Good Shepherd” message.