Memorial Garden

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Memorial Garden
- The mission of our memorial garden is to create a sacred space for the interment of cremated human remains on the grounds of our spiritual home. The presence of the memorial garden gives comfort to those who mourn and inspires our community to celebrate the fullness of Christian life.
  
  History
  
  The vision of a memorial garden at the Church of St. Edward emerged in 1998 and was embraced by the parish council and parishioners. The core committee, which included Fr. Mike Tegeder, Lonne Murphy, Judy Heinen and other parishioners, were greatly aided by the people of St. Joan of Arc, who had recently created a memorial garden on their property. The garden was dedicated on August 15, 2009. The first person was interred in the garden during July 2009. It was approved by the City of Bloomington and the Archdiocese in 2014. All of the creative work on the garden was contributed by parishioners. The garden includes a brick path made in the shape of a Celtic cross that was designed by parishioner Marian Luisi, whose family who came from generations of English gardeners.
  
  Today, our memorial garden offers an optional final resting place for the cremated remains of parishioners and their family members who have found their spiritual home at St. Edward. The full circle of the Communion of Saints is recognized on our parish property. Besides being a place of comfort for families and friends, it is also a beautiful meditation garden close to home.
  
  We hope all find our memorial garden to be a beautiful place to honor a loved one and an inspirational place for prayer.
  
  Policies
  
  Only cremated human remains may be buried in St. Edward’s Memorial Garden.
  All cremated remains will be placed in a pre-authorized biodegradable urn.
  St. Edward’s Parish Community & the Memorial Garden Committee oversee the management and perpetuity of the garden.
  Headstones are not permitted.
  Memorialization of names are engraved on the “Wall of Names” installed on the church wall within the memorial garden.
  Authorized grave markers are to be purchased through our parish.
  
  Any parishioner interested in purchasing a space in St. Edward’s Memorial Garden may do so by calling or stopping by the parish office to set up an appointment. Our memorial garden contains memorial pavers. These pavers provide an opportunity to permanently remember loved ones who may or may not be interred in the memorial garden. Further information and the Interment Agreement are available in the parish office.
- The Garden
  
  I went to the garden today
  to touch your name – and remember
  
  In gardens, perhaps, heaven itself touches earth,
  the nearest we come to heaven on earth.
  The old story says that in the beginning
  there was a garden,
  where Time itself began
  and God walked in the cool of the day.
  
  Maybe heaven itself is a garden,
  otherwise why call it by that
  Old Persian name for a walled garden –
  Paradise.
  
  Like that first garden
  this garden too, was created by Love,
  here where you wished to be,
  nestled beneath a wall of the church you loved,
  embraced by those you embraced,
  cared for by those you cared for.
  We in your presence, you in ours.
  Now community is complete,
  the circle unbroken.
  
  For Love, stronger than Death,
  can breach his great wall.
  You, on that side the wall, among spruce and pine, azalea and birch, coral bell and coneflower, learning the silence of flowers,
  the great patience of trees, can hear,
  from beyond the wall, children at family mass,
  choir practice in the evening dark;
  the hum of voices at soup suppers.
  
  And we, this side the wall, know you are there,
  in long spring rains, when bud and blossom burst, on warm summer nights, under an October moon, in the rustle of leaves or a hushed snowfall.
  
  It is well-wrought, this garden;
  it becomes you, this living memorial.
  And God is in the garden.
  
  ~ Roger Dick

History

Policies

The Garden