October 11, 2025
Anna was barely 2-years-old when her aunt Carolyn lost her life to suicide. More than 50 years later, her family still mourns their loss.
“She was a beautiful young woman, beautiful and brilliant,” Anna said. She played the flute and oboe and performed with the Chicago Youth Symphony and later studied music at Stanford University, but she suffered from mental illness and took her life at 23.
Her family is still feeling the pain, and it was this pain that brought Anna, along with others from throughout the diocese, to a Mass for Suicide Healing and Remembrance at St. Rose of Lima Church.
“I just want to know my family isn’t alone,” Anna said. “I’m here because of my mother Rosellen, who was Carolyn’s older sister. She lives in Alabama and isn’t a Catholic, but when she heard about this Mass for healing, she wanted me to come for all of us.”
Carolyn Killian, Director of Bereavement, welcomed people to the Mass of Suicide Healing and Remembrance last year and told the attendees:
“We often struggle to be supportive and sensitive with those who are facing unthinkable loss, and we usually have no idea what to say. And when we are grieving, we often cannot find the words to describe the intensity of our emotions. And when our loss is due to death by suicide, our hearts are broken and we are speechless. I truly believe that prayer supports us when words fail us. So we come together today in prayer to remember our loved ones and to ask the Holy Spirit to wrap us in love and walk with us on this path to healing.”
This year the Memorial Mass for Suicide Loss and Mental Health Awareness will be held October 22 at 7 p.m. at St. Rose of Lima Church, 46 Church Hill Road in Newtown.
©J Pisani
***
Sign Up for Healing Journey Messages
Receive a daily message to your email address.