Columbarium Rules and Regulations
In 2017, within compliance of Canon Law (Canon 1176.3), Holy Spirit Church installed a Columbarium in the new Adoration Chapel in the southeast area of Holy Spirit Church. The Columbarium provides Holy Spirit parish members and their families an opportunity to have their cremains interred at Holy Spirit Church as a memorial. Nothing disallows or discourages cremation as a proper form of Christian burial.
The options for interment are:
1. A Funeral Mass with the body present, cremation following the liturgy, and the ashes interred in the Columbarium at a later date.
2. Cremation immediately after death and a Funeral Mass with the ashes present, to be interred in the Columbarium following the Mass.
3. An interment of ashes as a burial service alone.
To make arrangements for these liturgies you should contact the parish when a death has occurred, or give the funeral home the necessary information to contact the parish.
I. Columbarium Application and Certificate of Reservation of the Columbarium Niche
To purchase a niche, the Columbarium Application Form requesting a niche must be completed and signed by the requesting party, and taken or mailed, with the $4,000 niche fee, to the Holy Spirit Church office, 2801 West E Street, North Platte, NE 69101. Catholic “preference” for the poor can be requested with documentation of need. The application will be reviewed for approval by the Pastor of Holy Spirit Church. If the application is approved, a Certificate of Ownership for the Columbarium Niche is completed by the Pastor and delivered or mailed to the applicant.
If the application is not approved, a Notice of Denial is completed and mailed with the niche fee to the applicant. Within ten (10) days after receiving notice of non-approval the applicant may request a reconsideration of the decision. The request must be presented in writing, and must state specific reasons for reconsideration that include the deceased’s connection to Holy Spirit Parish and the applicant’s reasons for desiring interment in the Columbarium.
Presently, the purchase of a Columbarium niche is available on a first come basis to:
a. Members of Holy Spirit Parish and their immediate families. Immediate family shall include the member’s spouse, children or stepchildren.
b. Holy Spirit “related” family members, which includes a member’s parents, brothers or sisters, grandchildren and daughters-in-law or sons-in-law.
c. Former Pastors/Associates or other persons, at the discretion of the Pastor.
II. FEES for Columbarium Purchase
1. A $4,000 per Niche charge – to be paid at the time of application. This fee includes the niche urn, and must be paid in full before the Certificate of Ownership will be issued. The Pastor has discretion to approve applications at reduced monetary rates based on financial need.
2. A $100 fee, typically paid at the time of interment, for the opening and closing of the niche. This fee includes the nameplate.
III. NAMEPLATE
The engraving of the nameplate affixed to the exterior of the Columbarium niche will be uniform in size and appearance for all niches. It will bear the name of the person whose cremains are interred. The decedent or family of the decedent is responsible any cost for the engraving of the nameplate. Holy Spirit Church will designate the person or firm authorized to engrave nameplates.
IV. TRANSFER of Ownership
If the owner of the niche wishes to transfer ownership of the niche during his/her lifetime, a Transfer of Ownership of Columbarium Niche form, requesting the transfer, must be sent to and approved by Holy Spirit Church. The proposed transferee must be an individual who qualifies under the rules of ownership of the niche. The transfer must be approved by the Pastor of Holy Spirit Church. Holy Spirit Church will endeavor to honor the requested transfer, but will not be obligated to accept the proposed transferee, nor will Holy Spirit Church be under obligation to procure a qualified transferee.
In the absence of a transfer of ownership during the owner’s lifetime, the presumption is the owner intends to be interred in the niche. Holy Spirit Church assumes no responsibility to the owner other than to allow interment of the cremated remains in the niche.
If the owner does not transfer ownership during his/her lifetime, and if the owner is not interred in the niche, Holy Spirit Church may transfer the niche to the estate of the deceased owner in such manner as the will and/or the laws of descent and distribution of the State of Nebraska require. The niche may then be used to inter the cremains of an individual who qualifies under the Rules of Ownership. In order to transfer a niche to the owner’s heirs at law or the beneficiaries of the owner’s estate, a Transfer of Ownership of Columbarium Niche form requesting the transfer must be received, reviewed and approved by Holy Spirit Church. If approved, a new Certificate of Ownership is to be completed and signed by the Pastor of Holy Spirit Church and mailed to the transferee.
If no application for transfer of ownership is submitted to Holy Spirit Church, and a request for refund of the purchase fee to the estate of the deceased owner is received, Holy Spirit Church, upon payment of the refund, may re-sell the niche to another qualified person.
V. INTERMENT of Cremains
No objects other than the urn containing the cremains and the packaging in which they are transferred may be placed within a niche. A niche may contain the cremains of one (1) person only. Holy Spirit Church will not hold/possess cremains during the interim period between cremation and interment. The holder of the Certificate of Ownership is solely and exclusively responsible for making appropriate prior arrangements with the funeral home, crematorium or appropriate person to possess the cremains to be interred. All cremains must be presented to Holy Spirit Church at time of interment in the niche, in appropriate packaging and in a form that will fit inside the niche.
A niche in which the cremains of one person have been interred may not be re-opened for the purpose of adding anything to the cremains within.
VI. ACCESS to the Columbarium
Access to the Columbarium niche may only be gained by arrangement with the Pastor of Holy Spirit Church upon reasonable notice. Cremains may only be removed:
1. Upon receipt by Holy Spirit Church of written authorization by the surviving
spouse or all lawful heirs of the decedent.
2. With prior approval of Holy Spirit Church.
3. Upon payment of a $350 surrender fee, and
4. Upon the surrender of the original Certificate of Ownership.
No refund of the purchase price of the niche will be made in the case of permanent removal of cremains. Persons seeking permanent removal will be financially responsible for the opening, the removal, the replacement of the niche cap seal, and a new blank nameplate. Financial arrangements for removal of cremains shall be completed to the satisfaction of Holy Spirit Church prior to the removal. Persons seeking permanent removal shall indemnify and hold harmless Holy Spirit Church as well as the Pastor, the employees, agents, officers and volunteers thereof, against all claims, losses, causes of action and expenses, including attorney fees and legal expenses arising from removal of cremains from a niche.
VII. Amendments and Changes
Rules and regulations may be changed or amended by Holy Spirit Church without notice.
Reverend James Novakowski, Pastor