We don’t often see Catholic cemetery workers or managers. Maybe that’s why we also don’t often thank them, and that’s too bad. After all, in a way they’ll be taking care of us much longer than even our closest loved ones. And we won’t be able to voice our gratitude when they or their successors perform works on our behalf.

Day after day, year after year, these paid or volunteer workers — including parish pastors and trustees — tend to the holy ground of the resting places of those who have gone before us.

It is vital work and, as Bishop Jenky and others said at a rare gathering of cemetery officials from around the diocese in late July, it is an important mission of the Catholic church. (See related story.)

The officials gathered July 27 to review how new state regulations for all cemeteries will impact Catholic ones in our diocese. And if the stories they heard of mismanagement at Burr Oak Cemetery near Chicago last summer weren’t enough to justify additional regulations, two days later another national story broke pointing to the need for oversight at a place where one would think there would be plenty of it: Arlington National Cemetery. It seems that up to 6,600 graves there may be unmarked or mislabeled on cemetery maps.

As decades and even centuries pass, as record keeping methods and record keepers change, the potential for errors increase. In addition, cemetery officials are also not immune to the rapid technological and cultural changes of today’s society. How to adjust to the increasing use of cremation is just one example.

The Diocese of Peoria is blessed with faith-filled, conscientious officials who do their best to manage and maintain its more than 130 Catholic cemeteries. You may not be aware that, before any state laws, these properties are governed by 10 pages of diocesan rules and regulations designed to “protect and foster their sacred character.”

No, we don’t see cemetery workers often, or at the best of times. But seeing so many of them together in one place last week was a reminder of the presence, and the importance, of those who care for our Catholic cemeteries. We thank them for all they do. — Thomas J. Dermody