This volume of essays adopts a multi-faceted approach to questions surrounding dying and death. It features contributions from those working within the areas of palliative care, healthcare chaplaincy, philosophy, and theology. Among the topics covered are: the transformative power of palliative care; spiritual care at the end of life; a philosophical perspective on dying, death, and dignity; prudential judgment in end-of-life decision making; perinatal death; compassionate accompaniment of the bereaved; honoring the sacred story of the dying; reflecting on the Order of Christian Funerals; scriptural perspectives on mortality; the significance of music in the funeral liturgy; how the afterlife has been imagined within the Christian tradition; and the ‘liturgy’ of the Irish Wake.
With questions for further discussion and reflection at the end of each chapter, all who wish to think more deeply about issues surrounding dying, death, and the care of the terminally ill, will find this collection timely and thought-provoking.
Foreword - Archbishop Dermot Farrell ........ 9
Introduction - Jeremy Corley, Aoife McGrath, Neil Xavier O’Donoghue and Salvador Ryan ................. 13
One: Facing with Care
1. Spiritual Care at End of Life –
Lessons from the Bedside - April MacNeill ....................... 25
2. An Approach to the Challenge
of Dying and Death - Brendan Corkery .................... 35
3. The Power of Story in
Accompanying People towards the End of Life - Anne Francis .......................... 47
4. Love in the Pastoral and
Professional Care of the Dying - Chris Hayden ......................... 58
5. Facing Life’s End:
Th e Transformative Power of Palliative Care - Sinéad Donnelly ..................... 67
6. Th e Art of Dying Well - Michael Shortall ..................... 77
Two: Facing Goodbye
7. Memento Mori: Reflecting on the Music of My Own Death - Salvador Ryan ........................ 87
8. Tea, Scones and Stories –the Liturgy of an Irish Wake - Bairbre Cahill ......................... 98
9. What Happens when We Die?
Reflections on the Order of Christian Funerals - Liam M. Tracey OSM .......... 107
10. Children and Death - John-Paul Sheridan .............. 116
Three: Facing Challenging Questions
11. Scriptural Perspectives on Our Mortality - Jeremy Corley ........................ 129
12. Perinatal Death: Complex and
Nuanced Life, Love and Loss - Daniel Nuzum ..................... 140
13. The Role of Prudential
Judgements in End-of-Life Decision-Making - Pádraig Corkery .................... 150
14. Death, Dying and Dignity:
A Philosophical Perspective - Gaven Kerr .......................... 161
15. Being’s Mystery: On Not
Belonging to Ourselves Philip - John Paul Gonzales .... 170
Four: Facing Suffering with Hope
16. Raising the Victim of the Good Samaritan Parable:
A Scriptural Reflection - Luke Macnamara OSB ......... 179
17. The Sacrament of the Sick and
Its Role in a Christian’s Sickness - Neil Xavier O’Donoghue ....... 190
18. ‘Go Forth, Christian Soul, from this World’: A Theological
Commentary on the Proficiscere - Andrew Meszaros ................. 200
19. From Death to Eternal Happiness - Thomas G. Casey SJ ............... 213
20. Facing Life’s End: The Life of the World to Come - Declan Marmion SM ............ 223
Frequently Cited Sources ............................................................ 235
List of Contributors .................................................................... 237
Select Index ................................................................................. 239
