Students to Flock to Cemetery to Build and Install Birdhouses

Catholic Cemeteries of the Archdiocese of Newark, in partnership with the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry of the Archdiocese of Newark, will host its annual teen birdhouse building program. While most teens spend summer days on family vacation or by a pool, about 70 students will visit Gate of Heaven Cemetery in East Hanover, NJ, as part of a week-long community service program with the Archdiocese, to learn about the significance of the ministry of Catholic cemeteries and to build and install custom birdhouses that attract life and nature to the cemetery while helping visitors during the healing process when mourning a loss.   

Two other Catholic Cemeteries locations, Maryrest Cemetery in Mahwah and Holy Cross Cemetery in North Arlington, now have more than 150 memorialized birdhouses resulting from the teens’ efforts in past years. Visitors enjoy seeing the birdhouses and the wildlife in the peaceful natural surroundings. Often times, birds can be seen nesting in the houses and sometimes consuming bees that pollinate the cemetery’s wildflowers. It is a beautiful representation of the cycle of nature and life.   

MEDIA PHOTO OPPORTUNITY: Students in action building and installing birdhouses.

WHERE: 
Gate of Heaven Cemetery and Mausoleum
225 Ridgedale Avenue
East Hanover, NJ

Free parking is available in the cemetery parking lot.

WHEN:                       
July 18-22, 2016 (a new group of students arrives each day)
10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

WHO:             
Approximately 70 students from local Catholic high schools in the Archdiocese of Newark from Bergen, Essex, Hudson, and Union counties.