Death & Dying
A Halloween musical mystery: Did sublime Bach sonata end in a dance of death?
By Mark Silk — October 29, 2021
(RNS) — This flutist says yes.
For Rabbi Earl Grollman, death was the classroom
By Jeffrey Salkin — October 20, 2021
(RNS) — Rabbi Earl Grollman has died. His books taught us how to cope with that.
Florida death row chaplain given Guardian of Life Award from Pontifical Academy
By Jessica Mundie — September 30, 2021
(RNS) — For more than two decades, Dale Recinella had been offering pastoral care and religious education to inmates in solitary confinement at Florida State Prison, which houses the second-largest death row population in the United States.
Faith leaders gather in Houston in response to gun violence
By Kathryn Post — September 3, 2021
(RNS) — 'It's time to stop trusting in this myth of redemptive violence that more guns are going to make us safer.'
She lost her husband in a beach accident. Her book tackles what it takes to heal.
By Yonat Shimron — July 8, 2021
(RNS) — In her new book, Shannon Dingle writes about leaning into grief, accepting uncertainty, connecting to feelings, expressing hard truths and getting psychological help.
Pandemic’s suffering opens way for Buddhist chaplains
By Caitlin Yoshiko Kandil — December 2, 2020
(RNS) — The Buddhist contemplative approach to chaplaincy has spurred a new interest in Buddhism in the medical environment.
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.
Two years after Pittsburgh shooting, solemn anniversary marked online
By Yonat Shimron — October 27, 2020
(RNS) — Public commemorations of the 2018 shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue, which killed 11 Pittsburgh Jews, will be livestreamed.
Addressing euthanasia, Vatican doctrine czar reminds media that bishops aren’t infallible
By Claire Giangravé — September 22, 2020
(RNS) — A restatement of church teaching comes soon after an archbishop suggested priests might comfort those who turn to assisted suicide.
A 24-hour online vigil will name some of the people who have died of COVID-19
By Yonat Shimron — May 19, 2020
(RNS) — The effort seeks to humanize and honor the people who have died. It's part of a marathon reading of names with songs and prayers interspersed.
Greg Zanis, who honored shooting victims by building 26,000 crosses, dies
By Yonat Shimron — May 6, 2020
(RNS) — The 69-year-old retired carpenter from Aurora, Illinois, crisscrossed the country to erect his wooden memorials near the sites of massacres, big and small.
J. Dana Trent is on a mission to discuss death with the post-Millennial generation
By Yonat Shimron — February 3, 2020
RALEIGH, N.C. (RNS) — Her fascination with death is part of a growing movement whose adherents believe in wresting control of death from the funeral industry and breaking the silence around death through frank discussions.
‘Sheltering wings:’ Charleston memorial plan conveys solace
By Jonathan Drew — July 16, 2018
(AP) — Designs for a memorial to nine black worshippers slain at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, began not at a drafting table, but with discussions with grieving family members about how best to honor those lost in the racist attack. The result will be less of a solemn monument and more of a heavenly embrace to those visiting the historic Charleston church.
Why religions of the world condemn suicide
By Mathew Schmalz — June 12, 2018
(The Conversation) — The ethics of self-inflicted death have historically been an important area of reflection for the world’s religions.
What is hell?
By Joanne M. Pierce — April 18, 2018
(The Conversation) — The Christian belief in hell has developed over the centuries, influenced by both Jewish and Greek ideas of the afterlife.
