To: Pastors and bulletin editors
From: Nicole Hartman – All Embrace, Inc.
What are we doing as a church to help families through the pain, emptness, loneliness and dispair of a stillbirth, miscarriage or infant death? Do you have people in place at your parish to support these families?
Many families are suffering alone and you may not be actively hearing of these losses. As a church we need to reach out and be ready to serve these families. Traditional grief counseling does not work with this type of loss. None of us have enough time in the day to do it all. It takes many people to embrace families.
This day-long training, offered on Saturday, March 14, from 9:30 a.m to 4 p.m. at Prince of Peace Catholic Church in Flowery Branch, is designed to train people in your parish that can help you provide the support that is needed. The cost is $40 per participant. Parishioners of Prince of Peace are free. The church is located at 439 Spout Springs Rd, Flowery Branch, Georgia, 30542.
Do you know of a family who has lost a baby that would be good at helping other families through this type of loss? If so, please invite them to attend this training. Please invite someone from your already established grief share ministry to get the specific training to help with this type of loss. People in your parish are losing babies everyday – we know that one in four pregnancies end in a loss. Even if you don’t have an official Embrace Ministry at your parish, please invite a few people to be trained to companion with other families, to let them know that the church stands with them and the beautiful life that is gone too soon.
Here is a bulletin accouncement for the weekends of February 29-March 1 and March 7-8:
All Embrace Ministry volunteer/lay training
Interested in companioning with families through miscarriage, stillbirth and infant loss? All Embrace Ministries will make available the insight and tools to start or join an Embrace Ministry and journey with families at your parish, being Christ’s hands and feet providing much-needed specific support during a family’s time of grief. Join us on Saturday, March 14, from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Prince of Peace Catholic Church, 6439 Spout Springs Rd., Flowery Branch, Ga. 30542. Cost is $40. Register at pop.churchcenter.com. Questions? Contact Nicole Hartman at 678-395-7724 or nhartman@allembrace.com or visit allembrace.com.