Surviving suicide
Brendan McManus SJ has an article on ‘Surviving Suicide’ in the February edition of the contemporary Irish Church journal, The Furrow. In a raw and personal account of the family tragedy that was the suicide of his brother, Brendan relates how they tried to come to terms with the devastation, the guilt and the many unanswered questions that suicide leaves. In the light of the persistent negative attitudes and stigma around suicide, he asks why there is no official liturgy or mass for suicide to help grieving family members at this critical time. Being able to put together a liturgy with the help of family members, he says, was one of the important moments: “the power of appropriate ritual at times like these can be enormously helpful”. The full article can be read here.