Support
What can we help you with?
infertility
“Do not focus so much on the path, but on the One who guides you, and to the heavenly home to which he is guiding you.”
– St. Padre Pio
List of Webinars and Podcasts From Media Page:
Webinars
- Transforming Heartache Into Hope: Walking With Couples Experiencing Infertility with Ann M. Koshute
- Humanae Vitae and the Cross of Infertility with Elizabeth Kirk
Podcasts
- Made For Love Catholic Podcast | Episode 9: Love That is Fruitful in Infertility
- Messy Family Podcast | Episode 50: The Hidden Cross of Infertility
- Letters to Women Podcast | A Letter to the Woman Who Thinks Spiritual Motherhood Is a a Consolation Prize
The Fruitful Hollow | Catholic Infertility Resource and Mentorship
miscarriage, adverse prenatal diagnosis, stillbirth, and infant loss
“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” -Psalm 34:18
Experiencing a miscarriage or stillbirth is a devastating and often isolating experience. A Mom’s Peace is an apostolate for mothers of miscarried and stillborn souls, assisting with immediate burial or cremation service and spiritual and emotional support.
- Apostolate for Mothers of Miscarried and Stillborn Souls
- Embracing Grace: Mentor Support for Carrying to Term after Adverse Prenatal Diagnosis
- Prayers and Spiritual Reflections
- Pregnancy Loss Questions and Answers
- Grief and Coping Q&A
- Ways to Remember Your Child
- Helping Siblings Cope
- Made for Love Catholic Podcast | Episode 40: Miscarriage
- Do Miscarried Children Go To Heaven?
Inova Fairfax Hospital Perinatal Concerns Program
Contact: Kelly Gallo RN, (703) 776-6371. Falls Church, Virginia
Mary Washington Hospital Family Birth Place
Perinatal Bereavement Services
Contact: Perinatal bereavement coordinator Tammy Ruiz Ziegler RN CPLC, (540) 741-3268. (See also her video about perinatal hospice, translated into multiple languages. Fredericksburg, Virginia)
St. Mary’s Hospital Noah’s Children Perinatal Care, St. Mary’s Hospital. Richmond, Virginia (Diocese of Richmond)
Tepeyac Family Center Kristin Anderson Perinatal Hospice Program, (703) 273-9440, Fairfax, Virginia
Prenatal Partners for Life (long distance Catholic peer support ministry) 763-772-3868 www.prenatalpartnersforlife.org
Filumena Birth and Bereavement mothers and families who experience miscarriage, later-term miscarriage, or stillbirth, and to educate and inform health care professionals, pregnancy help providers, and clergy so they may better serve families who experience the loss of a preborn child. www.filumenabirth.com
National Programs: www.perinatalhospice.org
In many instances of miscarriage, no bodily remains are discernable. In such cases, the Church still
has special prayers to offer for you and your baby. Parents may then want to ask their pastor about
the appropriate liturgical rites available to them (see “Rites and Commendations” for more
information).
However, in the event that remains are present, it is recommended that the remains are kept cold in
a suitable container until the day of burial. The parents may ask the doctor or hospital for the
remains if they are not offered by the medical institution. Unfortunately, some medical institutions
may not allow the remains to be given directly to the parents, but may insist on releasing the child to
a funeral home. It is important to consider any additional costs if a funeral home is involved.
Parents are encouraged to contact their pastor for arrangement of the appropriate commendation
rite and burial arrangements.
The church permits cremation as long as it is not a statement of the denial in the resurrection of the body (Catechism of the Catholic Church § 2301). Cremated remains should be treated with the same dignity as a deceased body. In other words, cremated remains should have their final resting place in a grave or columbarium.
The remains, whether or not they are cremated, should be interred in a grave or columbarium. It is strongly advised that the remains be placed in a cemetery so that the dignity of the burial site can be properly protected.
supporting someone experiencing infertility and child loss
“God in his providence has two ways of blessing marriages: one by giving them children; and the other, sometimes, because he loves them so much, by not giving them children. I don’t know which is the better blessing.” -St. Josemaria Escriva
find a parish support group
- Hannah’s Hope Fertility Support for Women – Every Second Monday of the Month, 6pm-7pm – Tepeyac OBGYN
- Infertility Support for Couples – Contact Mary Shea to get connected: infertilitysupport@stjohnleesburg.com – St. John the Apostle, Leesburg
Marriage is a vocation, a call from God, and the vocation to love is in fact a vocation to the gift of self, and this is a possibility that no physical condition can prevent.”
-His Holiness Benedict XVI
General Assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life, February 2012