Since 1963 the church has taught that Catholics can be cremated, abolishing its longstanding prohibition of the practice. Cremation was fairly widespread in...
Death and dying
Traditionally, Catholics believed that a person could reach heaven only if he or she was buried in a Catholic cemetery. But limited space meant few people...
A table in my living room has become a kind of shrine. On it rest photos of people special to me: my grandmother, my parents, my best friend. All have passed...
Generations of Catholics were raised to believe that suicide was one of the gravest sins a person can commit—and many Catholics today still fear that a loved...
What began with giving a doll the sacrament of the sick ended up as a real-life lesson. At the end of each school day, my first-grade students loved to play a...
When a person dies by suicide, those left behind often find themselves asking the same painful question: “What could I have done to prevent this?” In most...
None of us want to think of the world going on without us. But if we plan wisely, we can help to leave it a better place for the next generation. For Charlie...
Years ago my sister found herself explaining death to her young son. She tried to present the startling truths in a reassuring fashion. “Well, honey, everyone...
In 2007 New Jersey became the first state to abolish the death penalty since it was reinstated in 1976, joining 12 other states that never reintroduced the...
In 1982, Sister Helen Prejean began a correspondence with two death row inmates in her home state of Louisiana. She eventually became the spiritual adviser to...
