St. Ann’s Community Plans Week of Events for “Honoring Grief”

Remembering loved ones and honoring the human experience of grief will be the focus of a week long series of events in November at St. Ann’s Community. The public is invited to join in the week’s events which center on the theme, “Honoring Grief.”

“Grief is experienced with the loss of a loved one or the loss of something meaningful such as a home, a job, or our health,” said Sister Mary Louise Mitchell, Director of Pastoral Care at St. Ann’s Community. “If we desire to heal from grief, then we must face it and honor it through a variety of spiritual practices. Such spiritual experiences will be offered throughout this week.”

Keynote events are as follows:

Compassion Fatigue: Barbara Rubel

Nationally known speaker Barbara Rubel will give three presentations on compassion fatigue, a condition characterized by a gradual lessening of compassion over time. It is most common among those who work directly with victims of disasters, trauma, or illness, especially in the field of health care. Barbara is a certified bereavement specialist with degrees in Psychology, Community Health, and Thanatology and a board certification in Traumatic Stress. She will speak in the Chapel at St. Ann’s Home in Irondequoit, 1500 Portland Ave.

• Thursday, Nov. 1, 1:00–3:00 p.m. “Professional & Personal Well-Being in the Midst of Grief”
• Friday, Nov. 2, 10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. “Palette of Grief®: A creative way to explore the grief process”
• Friday, Nov., 2, 6:30–8:00 p.m. “Resiliency During Life Transitions and Loss”

Spiritual Journeys Through Grief: Elaine Mansfield

Award-winning author and bereavement workshop leader Elaine Mansfield will discuss how to use healing rituals as a tool in finding comfort and empowerment while grieving the loss of a loved one. She will speak in the Community Room at St. Ann’s Community at Cherry Ridge in Webster, 900 Cherry Ridge Blvd.

• Thursday, Nov. 8, 1:30–2:30 p.m. “Leaning into Love: Grief as a Spiritual Journey”
• Thursday, Nov. 8, 3:30–4:30 p.m. “How to Soothe Our Grieving Hearts”

Sand Mandala: Venerable Tenzin Yignyen

Venerable Tenzin Yignyen, a Buddhist monk and visiting professor of Tibetan Buddhism at Hobart & William Smith Colleges in Geneva, NY, will create a sand mandala over four days. A mandala is a spiritual symbol of harmony and peace used in meditation as a spiritual tool for developing compassion. The public is welcome to watch Tenzin at work and to ask questions as he creates the mandala outside the Community Room of St. Ann’s Community at Cherry Ridge in Webster.

• Friday, Nov. 2 through Monday, Nov. 5, 9:00 a.m.—4:00 p.m.
• Dismantling ceremony: Wednesday, Nov. 7, 10:30 a.m.

Other events during “Honoring Grief” include the following:

• Healing Harp Music with Roxanne Ziegler: One of Rochester’s most versatile and accomplished harpists, Roxanne is a Certified Music Practitioner of therapeutic music.

Thursday, Nov. 1, 10:30–11:30 a.m. St. Ann’s Care Center at Cherry Ridge
Thursday, Nov. 1, 12:00–1:00 p.m. The Glen at Cherry Ridge
Friday, Nov. 2, 5:30–6:30 p.m. St. Ann’s Home Lobby
Monday, Nov. 5, 10:30–11:30 a.m. St. Ann’s Wegman Care Center

• Mindfulness with Sister Mary Lou Mitchell: St. Ann’s Director of Pastoral Care will hold interactive sessions on mindfulness, the mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness of the present moment.

Saturday, Nov. 3, 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m. St. Ann’s Home Chapel
Monday, Nov. 5, 11:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m., 3:30 p.m. Community Room at Cherry Ridge
Thursday, Nov. 8, 9:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m. St. Ann’s Home Chapel

• North Greece Church of Christ Gospel Choir:
Saturday, Nov. 3 at 2:00 p.m. St. Ann’s Home Chapel
Saturday, Nov. 10 at 2:00 p.m. Community Room at Cherry Ridge

• Healing Our Spirits with Music: Dawn Marie Chmiel will perform organ and piano music around the theme of honoring grief on Sunday, Nov. 4 at 2:00 p.m. in the Chapel at St. Ann’s Home.

• Chair Yoga: Using chairs to assist in traditional yoga movements, these sessions led by certified yoga instructors will help relieve the stress of everyday life.

Monday, Nov. 5 and Friday, Nov. 9 at 10:30 a.m. St. Ann’s Home Chapel
Monday, Nov. 5 at 1:15 p.m. Community Room at Cherry Ridge

• Ecumenical Worship Service: Pastor Keith Campbell of Redeemer Lutheran Church will lead the service in the Chapel at St. Ann’s Home on Tuesday, Nov. 6 at 10:30 a.m.

• Coping with the Holidays: Michele Allman, Bereavement Coordinator with Visiting Nurse Hospice, will discuss dealing with loss during the holidays.

Thursday, Nov. 8, 2:00 p.m. St. Ann’s Community at Chapel Oaks, Irondequoit
Friday, Nov. 9, 2:00 p.m. St. Ann’s Community at Cherry Ridge, Webster

• Labyrinth: Throughout the week, people are invited to walk a labyrinth that will be set up in the Chapel at St. Ann’s Home and in the Community Center at Cherry Ridge. The labyrinth represents a purposeful journey to one’s center and back out again into the world.

• Tree of Life: Throughout the week, people are invited to write the name of a loved one on a paper leaf and add it to the Tree of Life outside St. Ann’s Chapel and at the entrance of the Community Center at Cherry Ridge. The names will be held in prayer throughout November.

• Threshold Choir: A calm, focused presence at the bedside, with gentle voices, simple songs, and sincere kindness, can be soothing and reassuring to those at the threshold of living and dying. The Threshold Choir will perform throughout the week at various times on St. Ann’s Irondequoit and Webster campuses, including the Leo Center for Caring hospice and palliative care center.

For more information, please call our Pastoral Care office at 697-6482.