Samaritan Healthcare & Hospice Hosts 7th Annual Pastoral Care Workshop on End-of-Life Issues from a Catholic Perspective

Samaritan Healthcare & Hospice Hosts 7th Annual Pastoral Care Workshop on End-of-Life Issues from a Catholic Perspective

Now and At the Hour of Our Death 2013, Samaritan’s 7th annual educational workshop on end-of-life issues from a Catholic perspective, will be held on Saturday, October 19, 2013 at St. John of God Community Services Campus in Westville from 8:45 a.m. until 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 Diocese of Camden and The Diocese of Trenton – Department of Pastoral Care.

Workshop attendees will also enjoy two complimentary sessions presented by local experts on forgiveness, reconciliation and healing at the end of life.

Session 1 – The Transforming Light of Forgiveness: A Power That Overcomes Darkness – will be presented by Catherine Nerney, Ph.D., 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. Dr. Nerney will use stories – many from post-genocide Rwanda gleaned during a research sabbatical -- as vehicles for healing through reconciliation and forgiveness. Her publications include Re-imagining Life Together in America: A New Gospel of Community and From Thinking to Practicing Reconciliation: Telling Stories of Rwanda.

Session 2 – Forgiveness: Restoring Wholeness – will be presented by Deborah Grassman, ARNP, CEO and 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.  She authored several books including The Hero Within: Redeeming the Destiny We Were Born to Fulfill and Peace at Last: Stories of Hope and Healing for Veterans and their Families.

Following lunch, attendees will take part in a Facilitated Meditation by Dr. Nerney utilizing poetry, music, silence and sharing. Closing music will be performed by opera singer Barbara Dever who debuted at the Metropolitan Opera, NYC and appeared with singers such as 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, please contact Christine Alston at 856-552-3258 or christine.alston@SamaritanHealthcareNJ.org.

 About Samaritan Healthcare & Hospice:

Samaritan Healthcare & Hospice is the regional leader for hospice and palliative care, grief support and counseling, end-of-life education, research and advocacy. In addition to hospice services covered by Medicare, Medicaid and private insurers, Samaritan’s Family of Services also provides more than $1 million each year in essential, yet non-reimbursed, services through generous community support of The Samaritan Fund. Samaritan is a not-for-profit, non-sectarian organization serving people in Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Gloucester and Mercer counties who are coping with issues of aging, serious illness or grief. For more information, visit www.samaritanhealthcarenj.org.