On Oct. 17, All Saints’ Westboro is hosting A Victorian Death, a free educational event offering those who attend the opportunity to learn more about end-of-life matters, including grief, planning ahead, options for disposition and why engaging with our mortality can improve well-being.
The event is part of All Saints/ Aging with Grace series of community gatherings, now in its second year. The Rev. Chung Yan Lam said it is intended to start or ease conversations about death and end-of-life that are uncomfortable.
This time the parish is collaborating with Community Deathcare Ottawa (CDO), a non-profit collective of practitioners supporting dying, death and grief. CDO describes its members as “rooted in holistic, compassionate, and family-led approaches to deathcare, and share a belief that death is not simply a medical or logistical event, but a sacred and meaningful part of life.”
Why a Victorian theme? CDO founder Kelly Butler explained that in Victorian society, “Death was part of everyday life. The dying were cared for at home, communities gathered around the dead, mourning had its own language and rituals, and remembrance was woven into clothing, photographs, objects, and ceremony. Death was a communal event.
“Nowadays, dying and death has moved out of our homes and communities and into Institutions and professional systems. Many of us have lost the rituals, knowledge, and confidence that once helped people accompany the dying, care for the dead, and express grief. Community Deathcare aims to reclaim these processes.”
Butler has decades of experience helping families navigate bereavement and end-of-life care and teaches a death doula training program.
The event at All Saints’ will take place from 11 am to 2 pm on Oct. 17.
La prière de Jésus et la mort