The Healing Journey

March 1, 2024

New Day Bereavement Programs have been scheduled in the coming months throughout the Diocese of Bridgeport. The 90-minute weekly format includes prayer, Scripture reading, journaling and sharing responses to directed questions in a confidential setting. It is based on “The New Day Journal” created by the late Dominican Sister Mauryeen O’Brien.

The participants are guided to accept the reality of the loss, experience the pain of grief and find a way to remember the deceased while embarking on the rest of life’s journey, Killian said.

“We rely on the comfort provided by our Lord, and the compassion extended by fellow participants, to meet the life-changing challenges presented by loss,” said Carolyn Killian, Director of Bereavement for Catholic Cemeteries of the Diocese of Bridgeport.

“The New Day Journal,” with materials in English and Spanish, is based on a textbook written by psychologist J. William Worden, a foremost authority on grief. Sister Mauryeen O’Brien, who had decades of experience as a grief counselor, put his work into a Catholic framework and developed “The New Day Journal: A Journey from Grief to Healing.”

The author of several books, Sister was the longtime coordinator for the bereaved at the Family Life Office of the Archdiocese of Hartford.

The following 9-week  bereavement programs are offered by Catholic Cemeteries:

People are urged to register soon because the sessions fill up quickly. For further information, they should visit ctcemeteries.org/bereavement or call Carolyn Killian at (203) 404-0023.