Letters

Remembrance services (letter)

Richard Grant

Contents - Dec 2000 - Buy a copy now Editorial: At the end of the Year of Jubilee: an audit - Michael Gilchrist ACU - when will the 'Statement of Conclusions' be implemented? - Michael Gilchrist Jubilee Congress of Families: Rome report - Anthony Cappello News: The Church Around the World C.S. Lewis: Christian apologist - Sarah Macdonald G.K. Chesterton: fresh and accessible today - Dale Ahlquist The 'new breed' of orthodox seminarians - Carter H. Griffin Australian Foundation to back new Pontifical University New Australian women's religious order - Sr Carmel Doherty Letters: Clarification (letter) - Bishop James Foley Letters: Priest shortage (letter) - Bernard O'Connor Letters: Spiritual Poverty (letter) - Joe Garreffa Letters: 'Creating Our Future' (letter) - Patricia Byrnes Letters: Toowoomba Diocese (letter) - Maria Lossberg Letters: Serious duties (letter) - Myles M. Kehoe Letters: Rainbow Serpent (letter) - Hans Klaver Letters: Positive response (letter) - Geoff Taylor Letters: The Church in China (letter) - Francis Vrijmoed Letters: Corrected translation (letter) - Hugh Henry Letters: Remembrance services (letter) - Richard Grant Letters: Women's ordination (letter) - Dr Frank Mobbs Letters: Misguided (letter) - Joyce Pearson and Marie Kennedy Letters: Wordiness (letter) - Kathleen Murnane Letters: Hell? (letter) - P.J. Jones Letters: Sermons (letter) - Gordon R. Coomber Letters: EWTN programs (letter) - John Lovegrove Books: 200 Years of Faith: A Multimedia Tour of the Holy Land - Catherine Sheehan (reviewer) Books: 'Biblical Holy Places: An Illustrated Guide' by Rivka Gonen - Catherine Sheehan (reviewer) Books: 'John Paul II's Book of Mary', compiled by Margaret R. Bunson - Anthony Cappello (reviewer) Books: 'Anti-Catholicism in American Culture', edited by Robert Lockwood - Michael Daniel (reviewer) Summer School of Evangelisation 2001 Reflection: The coming of Christ on earth - Pope John Paul II

I strongly endorse Ron Edmond's suggestion that the Catholic Church introduce liturgical funeral and remembrance services for children lost through miscarriage, abortion or stillbirth (October AD2000). Such services would not only be of tremendous spiritual and emotional benefit to many grieving parents, but also provide a crucial underpinning of the Church's fundamental teaching on the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death.

A lead in this regard has been given by the Jewish community, which last year hosted Victoria's first Jewish memorial service to recognise babies who have died before or shortly after birth. This was a huge step as, according to Jewish tradition, a child cannot be recognised publicly until he or she lives for more than 30 days after delivery. The effect of this custom was that grieving parents had been discouraged from talking about their children and also denied a formal period of mourning.

Those of us who pray, witness and counsel outside abortion clinics on a regular basis are often approached by women grieving over the loss of babies they had aborted. It would be wonderful if we could inform these women of the existence of remembrance services conducted by the Catholic Church, to assist in the healing process while reinforcing God's infinite mercy and readiness to forgive all who repent.

RICHARD GRANT
Middle Park, Vic

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 13 No 11 (December 2000 - January 2001), p. 15