News

Brownstown Twp. — Our Lady of Hope Cemetery will conduct a ceremonial groundbreaking for its new St. John Paul II Chapel Mausoleum at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, May 26. Bishop Donald Hanchon, an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Detroit, will preside at the service. The project marks a significant expansion for the Brownstown cemetery, which is owned by the Archdiocese of Detroit and managed by Catholic Funeral and Cemetery Services of Detroit (CFCS).

The mausoleum will house more than 550 interior and exterior crypts, 450 niches, and a chapel for services. The interior crypts will have marble fronts and the exterior crypts will be feature granite fronts. The niches, used for placement of urns with cremated remains, will offer both glass and granite fronts. Construction is scheduled for completion in early 2016.

The mausoleum is named after St. John Paul II, who served as pope of the Catholic Church from 1978 until his death in 2005, and was named a saint by the Vatican in 2014. A bronze statue of the popular modern saint will stand in front of the mausoleum’s entrance. The new mausoleum is intended to fulfill the need for more burial space in the cemetery.

Father Timothy Babcock, the Archdiocese of Detroit’s liaison for cemeteries and a board member for CFCS, will introduce the project. Representatives from those involved in the construction project are expected to be present at the groundbreaking ceremony, as well. Those working to complete the project include general contractor J.S. Vig Construction of Taylor; Carrier Mausoleum Construction, based in Montreal; Grissim Metz Andriese Associates, a landscape architect firm based in Northville; and the Hubbell, Roth and Clark engineering firm of Bloomfield Hills.

Our Lady of Hope Cemetery is at 18303 Allen Road, between Pennsylvania and Sibley roads. The new chapel will be in the center portion of the cemetery, near the present chapel and along the main road. Call Our Lady of Hope at (734) 285-2155 for further directions and information