An educational workshop on end-of-life issues from a Catholic perspective will be held on Saturday, Oct. 19, at St. John of God Community Services Campus in Westville from 8:45 a.m.-1:15 p.m.
Forgiveness & Reconciliation at the End of Life is presented by Via Lucis – The Samaritan Ministry for Catholic Patients and Families – in collaboration with the dioceses of Camden and Trenton.
The workshop will include two sessions presented by local experts on forgiveness, reconciliation and healing at the end of life.
The Transforming Light of Forgiveness: A Power That Overcomes Darkness will be presented by Catherine T. Nerney, a Sister of St. Joseph who serves as the associate professor of Religious Studies at Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia, and director of the College’s Institute for Forgiveness and Reconciliation.
Sister Nerney will use stories – many from post-genocide Rwanda gleaned during a research sabbatical – as vehicles for healing through reconciliation and forgiveness.
Forgiveness: Restoring Wholeness will be presented by Deborah Grassman, co-founder of Opus Peace: Healing Center, a non-profit organization helping people “re-own and re-home scattered pieces of broken self lost through heartache, neglect, abuse, trauma, death and war.”
Grassman will outline the essential steps of the forgiveness process as well as common mistakes that interfere with forgiveness and will include examples from her more than 30 years working with veterans as a Hospice Program Director for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Following lunch, attendees will take part in a facilitated meditation by Sister Nerney. Closing music will be performed by opera singer Barbara Dever, a local talent who has performed with Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo.
Though Samaritan Heathcare & Hospice is a non-sectarian organization serving people of all beliefs, the Via Lucis program was created to address the moral and sacramental needs of the more than 800 Catholic patients and families Samaritan serves each year.
Admission is $15 in advance and $20 at the door and includes a continental breakfast and lunch. For more information or to register, contact Christine Alston at 856-552-3258 or christine.alston@SamaritanHealthcareNJ.org.
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