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Church plants vineyard in cemetery
Church plants vineyard in cemetery
1 hour, 27 minutes ago
A Catholic Church official seeking to provide wine for services and a scenic backdrop has planted a vineyard on three acres of a California diocese graveyard.
Robert Seelig, director of funeral and cemetery services for the Catholic Diocese of Oakland, California, is nurturing the grapes on a hill that is part of the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Hayward, California, near San Francisco.
"The concept was to use the vineyard as a form of landscape and the wine would just be a benefit," Seelig said. Any wine produced on the land would be used to celebrate Mass at local parishes, he said.
While planting so close to graves may appear odd to some, vineyards are mentioned in Scripture, and growing wine grapes on church land is in keeping with the history of winemaking in California, said the Rev. Mark Wiesner, a diocese spokesman.
The Catholic Church introduced wine-making to California, now world famous for its commercial wines. The state's first vineyards were planted in the late 1700s on the lands of Spanish missions.
Church plants vineyard in cemetery
1 hour, 27 minutes ago
A Catholic Church official seeking to provide wine for services and a scenic backdrop has planted a vineyard on three acres of a California diocese graveyard.
Robert Seelig, director of funeral and cemetery services for the Catholic Diocese of Oakland, California, is nurturing the grapes on a hill that is part of the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Hayward, California, near San Francisco.
"The concept was to use the vineyard as a form of landscape and the wine would just be a benefit," Seelig said. Any wine produced on the land would be used to celebrate Mass at local parishes, he said.
While planting so close to graves may appear odd to some, vineyards are mentioned in Scripture, and growing wine grapes on church land is in keeping with the history of winemaking in California, said the Rev. Mark Wiesner, a diocese spokesman.
The Catholic Church introduced wine-making to California, now world famous for its commercial wines. The state's first vineyards were planted in the late 1700s on the lands of Spanish missions.
