Kenosha Catholics gather to celebrate requiem Mass for departed loved ones on All Souls' Day

by Terry Flores

The Downtown Kenosha Catholic community came together Thursday night during a celebration to remember loved ones who have died.

The requiem Mass drew more than 200 to St. Elizabeth Church including many parishioners of the local church, St. James Church, and community members whose family and friends are buried in the local Catholic cemeteries of St. Casimir, St. George, St. James, and St. Mark.
The celebration took place on All Souls’ Day, a day when Catholics pray for the souls of the departed to receive God’s grace to transition to heaven. It follows All Saint’s Day, which was celebrated on Wednesday, a day of holy obligation.

“You know, where yesterday (All Saint’s Day) we certainly had the opportunity of praying for those who are in heaven. Today, (we’re) praying for all the souls, right? That’s encouragement that we must give,” said the Rev. Sean Granger, church pastor, during his homily.
While the hour-long Mass was markedly solemn, it also focused on hope.

“Even the book of Wisdom reminds us of that, too, that when we die and we’re in the habit of being just, that we’re ultimately in his hands, but he helps to perfect us, like gold in the furnace,” he said ... “to be able to be something greater – like that of stars in the sky.”

Following Holy Communion, the celebrant performed the “Incensing of the Catafalque” a ritual offering as the church choir sang the “Lacrymosa” from Mozart’s "Requiem in D minor." The catafalque, normally the platform of a casket or one similar in structure, is traditionally used during the requiem Mass to symbolically represent the dead.

Granger said the requiem Mass was offered as a way for St. Elizabeth and St. James parishioners to remember loved ones who have died, but also to the family and friends of community members who are buried at the four Catholic cemeteries Downtown KenoshaCatholic oversees.

“You know, so many people, I don’t know if they have the opportunity to necessarily pray for the dead, especially, in their cemeteries,” he said after the Mass. “So, not only do we do something for our parishioners, but to do something for everybody and their cemeteries to try to bring families together… and with it being All Souls’ Day, it’s also the perfect opportunity.”