Grieving With Grace

Called to Holiness: Spirituality for Catholic Women

"When a whole way of life is changed because of a death of some kind, the greatest loss may be that of hope. At this point we may begin an authentic change of direction, a change for the better, what Christians refer to as conversion. In the midst of survival, we sense the challenge to find ways to get in touch with the richness of life here and now and to welcome the next chapters of a life newly unfolding. Therein lie the seeds of resurrection."

There are many ways in which the course of our daily lives can be altered—illness, change in residence, loss of employment and death of loved ones. These alterations can require dramatic and even subtle changes in our everyday living, limit our options and force us to choose different priorities.

Dolores Leckey knows firsthand that the death of a spouse changes forever the rhythms of life at all levels—body, mind and soul. In this moving and personal narrative that includes entries from her journal, she shares with us her own shift in consciousness, in the way she sees God, herself and the world after her husband's death. She offers us consolation and hope.

DOLORES R. LECKEY has been a senior research fellow at the WoodStock Theological Center since 1998 where she is currently coordinator of a new project, Theology in the City. She served twenty years as executive director of the Secretariat for Family, Laity, Women and Youth of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Recipient of numerous awards, including twelve honorary doctorates, St. John’s University Elizabeth Ann Seton medal, Washington Theological Union’s distinguished service award, Leckey is author of nine books and general editor of Just War, Lasting Peace: What Christian Traditions Can Teach Us. The mother of four and grandmother of seven, with her late husband she is a founder of the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing. She resides in Arlington, Virginia, where in 2003 the Commission on the Status of Women Named her a “Person of Vision.”