John Burns was baptized at St. Paul the Apostle Roman Catholic Church in Jersey City and later was an altar boy there. Later still, after a teenage apprenticeship that taught him about headstones, he bought a century-old monument company in North Arlington, N.J.

It depends on the cemetery across the street for much of its business, but Mr. Burns is embroiled in a battle with the cemetery’s owner, the Archdiocese of Newark. He says the archdiocese muscled in on his business when it began offering headstones and mausoleums to customers 18 months ago. Mr. Burns tried unsuccessfully in court to stop the archdiocese.

He has also fought for legislation that would prohibit the archdiocese from competing against the private funeral industry because, he says, the church’s tax-exempt status gives it an unfair economic advantage.

The church, he says, enjoys another advantage, customer convenience — in effect, one-stop shopping. He says that grieving families could arrange to buy monuments through the church without having to go to his shop or others within a few blocks of Holy Cross Cemetery, one of 10 run by Catholic Cemeteries of the Archdiocese of Newark.