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Cremated remains of more than 300 placed in mausoleum

Posted at 7:08 AM, Sep 19, 2017
and last updated 2017-09-19 07:08:07-04

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The cremated remains of more than 300 people, most of them stillborn babies, have been placed in a crypt by Lansing’s Roman Catholic bishop.

The Lansing State Journal reports that the remains had been stored at Sparrow Hospital and Lansing-area funeral homes after families failed to claim them. Bishop Earl Boyea officiated at the ceremony Monday at St. Joseph Cemetery mausoleum.

The remains in white and black boxes include roughly 40 adults. In 2016, Elizabeth Reust, manager of the Sparrow Hospital laboratory, approached the Catholic Diocese about arranging burial. She says everyone deserves to be honored in some way “regardless of their story.”

The remains will be accessible in case family members of the deceased step forward.