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Feature: Religion and Suicide
Estimates suggest that for every person who commits suicide, as many as 25 others attempt it. And, for each life lost in the act, the lives of those left behind – parents, husbands, siblings and children – are profoundly impacted. However, since many faith traditions condemn suicide, many suicide survivors often feel religiously stranded. How should clergy members respond when confronted by someone wishing to end his or her life and what is their role in helping families heal?
Betty Rollin explores how some ministries are reaching out through faith to help survivors through the grief process. “Suicide happens because people are in extraordinary pain,” observes Father Charles Rubey, founder of the Loving Outreach to Survivors of Suicide (LOSS) program of the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago. “To me, the person who completes suicide, the statement is, ‘I can no longer handle the pain in my life. I can’t go on any more.’ A person who completes suicide is not acting out of malice. They’re acting out of desperation.”
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/newsletter/images/arrow.gifRead the full story
Estimates suggest that for every person who commits suicide, as many as 25 others attempt it. And, for each life lost in the act, the lives of those left behind – parents, husbands, siblings and children – are profoundly impacted. However, since many faith traditions condemn suicide, many suicide survivors often feel religiously stranded. How should clergy members respond when confronted by someone wishing to end his or her life and what is their role in helping families heal?
Betty Rollin explores how some ministries are reaching out through faith to help survivors through the grief process. “Suicide happens because people are in extraordinary pain,” observes Father Charles Rubey, founder of the Loving Outreach to Survivors of Suicide (LOSS) program of the Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago. “To me, the person who completes suicide, the statement is, ‘I can no longer handle the pain in my life. I can’t go on any more.’ A person who completes suicide is not acting out of malice. They’re acting out of desperation.”
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/newsletter/images/arrow.gifRead the full story