Message From Bishop Brian Mascord
Future of Cemeteries NSW - A Message from Bishop Brian Mascord
I am writing to ask for your assistance in petitioning the New South Wales Government to reverse a decision to exclude faith and charitable groups from cemetery management.
Please find below the following:
- An opinion piece from Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP on the matter published in The Australian on 27 May 2021
Save Our Graves Online Petition
I give my support to Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP who has recently launched a Save Our Graves online petition to put pressure on the NSW Government to reverse its decision to exclude faith and charitable groups from the management of cemeteries in NSW that operate on Crown land. This also has the support of other faith leaders from the Muslim and Jewish communities.
The government’s decision is a serious attack on religious freedom and raises significant questions as to the appropriateness of handing over the management of cemeteries to a bureaucracy that has no experience in providing comfort to grieving families or the management of burial grounds. Caring for the dead and those who love them is a spiritual mission, not secular. Our faith teaches that it is one of our “corporal works of mercy” and this underpins the way we look after our cemeteries, which we have been doing for over 150 years.
An online petition page has been established at www.saveourgraves.com.au and you are encouraged to sign this petition and circulate it to your family and friends in NSW.