Caring Friends is a grief group that offers support and comfort to widows, widowers and friends who are mourning the loss of a loved one. We meet weekly in The Marian Center with welcoming smiles, hugs, and lots of hot coffee. Each new person joining the group is given the book Healing After Loss, by Martha Whitmore Hickman. The book has daily readings that are quite often the subjects of conversations at the meetings.
Our goal is to encourage one another on this journey and to be ever mindful of the personal and private sufferings of all. As a group, we end our meetings praying the Chaplet for the repose of the souls of our loved ones as well as for all recently deceased friends and parishioners. We also pray this Chaplet for all of the eleventh grade parishioners at St. Ignatius preparing for Confirmation. This is all done as part of our mission to be responsible and involved members of our St. Ignatius family and the surrounding community. Our meetings are open to non-parishioners as well.
Some in our group have been widowed for many years and some very recently. Presently, we are working on a way to offer this to our new young widows and widowers (and children having lost a parent) with no such support group that suits their needs. Most are unable to come at 9 am on Monday mornings.