Reflections from Robert

Important announcements and communications directly from our CEO Robert Seelig to all CFCS team members.

Our World is Crying…Telling Our Story

Our World is Crying…Telling Our Story

Hi Everyone, I write you this message this morning as I fly at 32,000 feet from San Francisco to Chicago to attend Catholic Extension’s Mission Bishops Conference. It is a beautiful morning filled with sunlight and clear skies above the clouds. This is an event held...

Conversations from Boulder

Conversations from Boulder

Hi Everyone, I hope you are enjoying the final weeks of summer! I thought it would be good this month to report back to you conversations that occurred a few weeks ago as we gathered all of our cemetery directors from around the country in Boulder, Colorado for a...

Opening the “Door” to Christ

Opening the “Door” to Christ

Hi Everyone, It was just two weeks ago that we celebrated Mass with Archbishop Vigneron in the Archdiocese of Detroit. Today I am writing you from the Archdiocese of San Juan in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico means “rich harbor." This is the first diocese in the Western...

Finding Solace in a Cemetery, National Catholic Register

Finding Solace in a Cemetery, National Catholic Register

SOURCE: National Catholic Register Death is never easy, but through our faith we have the promise of everlasting life and peace. A few years ago, I found solace in a place I had avoided since my father’s suicide 50 years ago: a cemetery. My father was only 37 years...

Mission in Confinement…Confusion and Blessings Abound

Mission in Confinement…Confusion and Blessings Abound

Hi Everyone, If the frequency of my messages are any indicator of the busyness of CFCS, you can see that I am down to getting one message out per week. While we still work in confinement, June marks the beginning of new phases and stages around the country. I promise...

Elevating Our Mission

Elevating Our Mission

Hi Everyone, I have both good news and disappointing news to share with you this today.  First, I want to share with you a realization that I had over the Memorial Day weekend. It was a hard few days, as I realized that it is time that I embrace each new day as...

The Distance Between Us

The Distance Between Us

Hi Everyone, For all of us working in Catholic cemeteries, the words “Holy Ground” have often represented the physical place that we bury the dead. Today I’d like you to consider expanding this understanding. One of the great spiritual writers of the past 50 years in...

Is it Tuesday?

Is it Tuesday?

Hi Everyone, How many of us forget what day of the week it is? I don’t know how it is for you, but I’ve been looking back at the last 8 weeks trying to figure out how my routine has changed. There isn’t a week that goes by that my wife and I have to remind ourselves...

Employee Safety an Anxious Time in the Work Place

Employee Safety an Anxious Time in the Work Place

Hi Everyone, Well, here we are entering Week 8 since shelter-in-place and stay-at-home policies were implemented around the country. As many of you read in Friday’s update by Ron Gies, over 60,000 Americans have died from the coronavirus. This is tragic and we are...

Emerging from the Fog

Emerging from the Fog

Hi Everyone, Is it only me or does anyone else feel like the past 7 weeks have been like being lost in a fog. What day is it? What did I do today at work or at home? How can you plan to do anything when you can’t do anything? Being lost in a fog makes it difficult to...

Tuesday Humor

Tuesday Humor

Hi Everyone, So here we are…another Tuesday as we settle into the workweek. First a word about Mondays. I’ve been through 7 of them since shelter-in-place began. They seem to be tough, right? They are harder than Mondays before the pandemic. Every week I feel like I...

Creativity in Our Confinement

Creativity in Our Confinement

Hi Everyone, It has been a while since I communicated with all of you. We are in the days of confinement and also in the days of anticipation, as talks of lifting restrictions entice us to dream of returning to some sort of “normal”. With live-in dual worlds, some of...

Robert Seelig on EWTN News Nightly

Robert Seelig on EWTN News Nightly

SOURCE: EWTN News Nightly Public vigils, funeral Masses and committal services are ways to honor and mourn our loved ones who have died, but coronavirus restrictions have impacted these traditions. Robert Seelig, CEO of Catholic Funeral and Cemetery Services, shares...

The Road Forward…Seeing the “Backside” of God

The Road Forward…Seeing the “Backside” of God

Last Tuesday we all shared in a talk by Dr. Jim Langley on coping skills for dealing with work and life during the pandemic. If I fast forward a week, it is hard to imagine that he spoke with us just 7 days ago. I feel like I need to go back and listen again to see...

An Easter Like No Other

An Easter Like No Other

Hi Everyone, Happy Easter to each of you! I started this note last week as we entered Good Friday thinking about what this 40-day Lenten journey has been for all of us. I realized that we were about to begin an Easter celebration like no other in our lives. Before I...

Shepherd’s Hour of Need

Shepherd’s Hour of Need

As we enter into the Triduum and the holiest days of our liturgical year, I wanted to share a unique effort to communicate to our bishops and priests. As a ministry on the front lines, we have learned some valuable lessons and been blessed to build new approaches to...