The Diocese of Trenton has taken preliminary steps to create a diocesan cemetery in southern Burlington County to meet the needs of Catholic families desiring to bury their loved ones in consecrated ground.

The Planning Board of Mount Laurel has approved a plan for the cemetery, which will be located on 12.5 acres on Fostertown Road, a plot owned by the diocese since November, 2011.

It is expected that the new diocesan cemetery will have accommodation for in-ground burial and mausoleum entombment. A portion of the ground burial sections will be completed first and will be operational during mausoleum construction. Once the mausoleum is complete, entombment rights for 1,468 caskets and 768 niches will be accommodated. There will be capacity for 9,000 ground burials in total.

“Many details of the new cemetery are still in the planning stages,” said Rayanne Bennett, executive director of communications for the diocese. “Architectural drawings are in progress and are expected to be completed by year end.”

Bennett also stressed no firm date for opening the cemetery has been set since Planning Board approval was only recently granted and permits are needed before any construction can begin.

The need for a Catholic cemetery in southern Burlington County was confirmed by a recent diocesan-commissioned study surveying all parish deaths and burial records, she noted.

“The study found that the burial needs of the Catholic community in the area of the new cemetery are currently not being met within the diocese, and that families have had to leave the area to find space,” Bennett reported.

There are seven parish-based cemeteries in Burlington County, only two of which have mausoleums. “The cemetery will provide a Catholic, convenient option for seven area parishes and the more than 20,000 families who worship there,” Bennett said.

The diocese currently has only one cemetery, St. Mary’s in Hamilton, Mercer County, which also provides oversight of four parochial cemeteries in close proximity.

Mark Wilson, diocesan director of Catholic Cemeteries, noted the importance of choosing a Catholic cemetery as a final resting place. “Burial in a Catholic cemetery is the last step in the progression of the faith. We are born, baptized, confirmed, die and have a funeral liturgy and are buried in consecrated ground,” Wilson noted.

Catholic cemeteries are the sites of regular Masses on Holy Days and Memorial Day, he continued, while noting the presence of altars and religious artifacts, art and Scripture not present in secular places of burial. “At the end of the day burial of Catholics in a Catholic cemetery is a corporal work of mercy,” Wilson concluded.

Bennett noted information regarding interment and entombment rights will be announced by the diocese soon.