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St. Mark’s Church to hold meeting on mourning

September 9, 2021   ·   0 Comments

We’re all going to die. So why are we so scared to talk about death? This is the question Lori Robertshaw poses as she invites the community to the inaugural meeting of the Mourning Glory Café in Orangeville, on Monday, September 27 at 7 pm at St. Mark’s Anglican Church on First Street.
The Café provides a safe space where people can come together and talk, ask questions, and learn all manner of fascinating things about the “D” word. “Is there ever a good time to talk about death and dying? There is now!” enthuses Robertshaw. “And once Covid restrictions lift, we’ll be doing it with tea and cake! Until then bring your own beverage.”
Orangeville’s Mourning Glory Café meetings are based on the Death Café model developed in 2011 in the UK. The objective is to “increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives.” A café provides an open, unstructured, respectful space free of discrimination where individuals can express their views and bring forward questions. Discussions are agenda-free and free of charge.
“Our gatherings are not designed to lead anyone to conclusions about life or death, and it is not a place to market information, products or services. We want to make clear we do not provide grief counselling, however, those needing bereavement support or grief counselling will be helped to find appropriate support and resources,” said Robertshaw.
Robertshaw leads a group of sympathetic volunteers who have been meeting for a year via Zoom to develop the Mourning Glory Society. The plan is to hold monthly meetings. All public health protocols will be followed, and a Covid screening process will be required. People are free to come and go, to talk or not talk as they feel in that moment.
“We want you to come, be curious and enjoy, as hard as that may be to believe,” Robertshaw enthused. “The topic is death, but the conversation will be bursting with life.”
For more information please check out our Facebook page Mourning Glory Cafe, or email us at MGCafe.Orangeville@gmail.com

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