death and dying
How does the Vatican plan a retired pope’s funeral?
By Nicole Winfield — December 28, 2022
(RNS) — When Benedict announced his retirement in 2013, he opened a decade of uncharted pontifical territory.
Death and the Little Black Funeral Dress
By Jana Riess — November 29, 2022
(RNS) — Each time I wear it to mourn someone I’ve loved, my dress becomes more steeped in love and history.
Expansions on euthanasia should be sounding alarm bells for us all
By Avi Shafran — July 27, 2022
(RNS) — ‘In our utilitarian and utopian zeal, the right to die today may become the duty to die tomorrow,’ warns Toronto physician Mark D’Souza.
Who gets to unplug the pope?
By Thomas Reese — July 27, 2021
(RNS) — Even a pope needs a medical directive.
Funeral directors survive ‘surreal’ year with creativity and faith
By Elizabeth E. Evans — February 4, 2021
(RNS) — With safety precautions changing the way people mourn, as well as the sheer volume of COVID-19 deaths, the men and women who sometimes wryly call themselves ‘last responders’ have had a year like no other.
‘No man is an island,’ wrote John Donne on a grim Christmas amid a pandemic
By Andrew McGowan — December 22, 2020
(RNS) — These famous few lines suggest a kind of compassionate solidarity, a sense of deep connection when others die, or might die. But Donne’s real point is not just compassion for others, even during a plague, but the necessity of attention to the self.
Death expert Gary Laderman: ‘This holiday season is going to be a killer’
By Yonat Shimron — December 14, 2020
(RNS) — The holidays mark the passage of time and provide ritual forms of continuity and reassurance, says Laderman. For many that won't happen this year.
Dying ‘the Buddhist way’ gains in hospice centers in the West
By Ken Chitwood — November 12, 2020
(RNS) — The emergence of Buddhist-oriented hospices in the U.S. and elsewhere is said to show a dissatisfaction with conventional Western views of life and death.
In Disney’s ‘Clouds,’ Justin Baldoni makes a teen cancer movie about joy
By Paul O'Donnell — October 23, 2020
(RNS) — Justin Baldoni, best known for his role on the CW's 'Jane the Virgin', has modeled his career of late around Western culture's allergy to talking about death.
In the midst of deep grief, a scholar writes how Hindu rituals taught her to let go
By Ketika Garg — October 2, 2020
(THE CONVERSATION) — Rituals can hold the core beliefs of a culture and provide a sense of control in an otherwise helpless situation.
Death Cafes help ease grief, loss in the time of coronavirus
By Leanne Italie and Emily Leshner — July 2, 2020
(AP) — Virtual Death Cafes allow strangers to explore mortality and its impact on the living, preferably while sipping tea and eating cake.
Michael Hickson, man with disability, dies after Texas hospital ends COVID treatment
By Kathryn Post — July 1, 2020
(RNS) — Michael Hickson, quadriplegic, husband and father of five, died June 11 after a hospital denied him treatment for COVID-19 and due to his preexisting disabilities.
We need to respect the choice not to die of COVID-19 alone
By Charles C. Camosy — April 13, 2020
(RNS) — There are values that trump the singular goal of lowering COVID-19 infection rates. One of those is accompanying loved ones as they pass away and providing them with clergy.
In California, residents may be able to compost their bodies after death
By Alejandra Molina — March 9, 2020
LOS ANGELES (RNS) — California Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, a Democrat, in late February introduced a piece of legislation that would give residents the legal option to have their bodies transformed into soil.
Finding a faith that is stronger than death — or my family’s rejection
By Heidi Hall — September 26, 2019
(RNS) — I want an afterlife like my life has been: one like Revelation 7:9, a great multitude of diverse people existing together in love of each other and their Creator. It’s not up to me to say who qualifies.
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