Comforting the Suicide Bereaved (part 4)
“As the one-year anniversary of Matthew’s death approaches,” writes Kay Warren, “I have been shocked by some subtle and not-so-subtle comments indicating that perhaps I should be ready to ‘move on.’ ”...
View ArticleA Catholic Priest on Suicide (part 5)
“Few things stigmatize someone’s life and meaning as does a death by suicide,” Fr. Ron Rolheiser, OMI, wrote recently in a column titled “Suicide–Reclaiming the Memory of Our Loved One.” Fr. Rolheiser...
View ArticleMary’s Shortcut Nineteen Years Later
On this day nineteen years ago, my teenage daughter Mary died by suicide. While her father and I were away for the day, she overdosed on her antidepressant medication and could not be revived by...
View Article“I Didn’t Know the Woman, But I Mourn Her”
“It was so sad,” writes Colbert King in The Washington Post describing what he witnessed one recent September morning. “The body was covered with a white sheet. It was lying on a grassy area beneath...
View ArticleMy Daughter, Her Suicide, and God
“The holidays would come and the past would hit Ives like a chill wind,” writes Oscar Hijuelos in Mr. Ives’ Christmas. “Memories of his son plaguing him, there came many a day, around Christmas, when...
View ArticleMy Daughter, Her Suicide, and God: A Memoir of Hope
Please meet Mary! Since 2012, I have been blogging about my daughter Mary, and now anyone who wants to know her better can do so. I’ve finally finished writing an account titled My Daughter, Her...
View ArticleCombatting Stigma
As if the suicide of a loved one weren’t traumatic enough, the bereaved even today find themselves contending with subtle forms of stigma such as “blame being cast upon [them] and [their] being...
View ArticleSuicide and Despair
Set in Ireland in the early twentieth century, Frank O’Connor’s story “An Act of Charity” revolves around the effort to conceal a parish priest’s suicide. “The worst thing a priest could do was to...
View ArticleTwelve Symptoms of Inner Peace
How might someone gauge personal healing after the suicide of a loved one? The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) lists twelve “symptoms” of inner peace that apply to the family members of...
View ArticleEmpathy By Way of a Cat
Late on a rainy night in April, 2002, my mother and I were driving home from a nearby town after watching my brother, George, perform there as “Brandy Bottle Bates” in Guys and Dolls. My extended...
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