Spiritual Service

Each year in the United States, tens of thousands die unknown and unmourned. The ER and ICU nurses caring for them in their last moments, or the coroners who collect them from the streets, do not even know many of their names. For a host of reasons, the end of each human life, always solitary in a strict sense, may also be the end of decades of a greater form of solitude arising from broken relationships and associated pain.

The forgotten dead were, during their lives, largely pushed to the margins by a materially affluent society. Mercy inclines our hearts toward anyone who let everyone he or she knew in life down and who was, in turn, collectively let down by the rest of us. Justice asks us to consider our part in a society where a human being can be written off as a burden.

For those who believe in a God who made mankind in His own "image and likeness," or who believe in any form of life after death, the dead merit our intercession (prayer) on their behalf before our common Creator. In Catholic tradition, wherein the dead may directly profit from the prayers of the living, this form of prayer has the redemptive potential to gain friendly intercessors in Heaven. Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, pagan, and other traditions have their own ways of honoring the dead while respecting the convictions they may have held in life.

What we do: We resolve, treating these forgotten men and women as our brothers and sisters, to aid them after death, foremost by a commitment to prayer for them or their souls in keeping with our spiritual traditions. We also promote research, education, advocacy, and service events in our local communities.

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