Our Faithful Departed: Where They Are and Why It Matters

by Leonard J. Delorenzo, McGrath Institute for Church Life, John C. Cavadini (Foreword)

Awarded third place in theology by the Association of Catholic Publishers and third place in grief and bereavement by the Catholic Media Association.

When someone we love dies, it’s difficult to look beyond our grief to understand that they are still with us. And yet we hear in the funeral liturgy that “life is changed not ended.”  In Our Faithful Departed , University of Notre Dame theologian Leonard J. DeLorenzo shows us what this means and how we are called to remain faithful in our relationships with the dead. “Those whom we have known and loved in this life we have only known and loved partially, imperfectly,” DeLorenzo writes. “In heaven, what has been partial shall be made complete, and what has been imperfect shall be perfected.” He explains that the Catholic Church teaches that heaven is not so much a place as it is a perfect communion in Christ where the living and the dead are forever united. In this book, you will learn   DeLorenzo relates his own story of the loss of his grandparents and shares heartwarming experiences from other Catholics—including Laura Kelly Fanucci, Stephanie DePrez, and John Cavadini—who have felt the connection with their lost friends and loved ones. DeLorenzo said that the Church must encourage communion with the dead through public acts such as Eucharistic processions, prayer, monthly adoration with prayers for the souls in purgatory, and by accompanying the grieving with tenderness and compassion.

Genres: Catholic, Grief

160 pages, Paperback

Published November 11, 2022

About the author

Leonard J. DeLorenzo, Ph.D., teaches theology at the University of Notre Dame, where he also directs Notre Dame Vision within the McGrath Institute for Church Life. He was born on the East Coast (New Jersey), spent part of his childhood in the South (Tennessee), grew up for the most part on the West Coast (California), but has lived in the Midwest longer than anywhere else (Indiana). His travel beyond these quarters of the United States includes leading pilgrimages to Italy and Malta, as well as journeying somewhat regularly to the edge of the observable universe in a planetarium where he works collaboratively with a professional astronomer and astrophysicist.

DeLorenzo is the author of Witness: Learning to Tell the Stories of Grace that Illumine Our Lives (Ave Maria Press, 2016) and Work of Love: A Theological Reconstruction of the Communion of Saints (University of Notre Dame Press, 2017). He is currently editing a volume to which he is also a contributor dedicated to Dante, Mercy, and the Beauty of the Human Person (forthcoming from Cascade Books).

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is a lonely phone box in the area where the tsunami hit Japan. This 'Phone on the Wind' has become a pilgrimage site for people to go and 'talk' to their departed loved ones, seeking comfort in their loss. Christians seek communion with the dead through Christ. This book guides readers in the best ways to do this, using examples from saints and from ordinary people. For example, Saint Monica had a strong devotion to the dead dure to her Northern African traditions.Saint Ambrose showed her how to give the food that she used to take to the dead to the hungry in their honour, and to pray for the dead to Christ in the Eucharist.

I feel slighly uncomfortable about praying for the dead because of the way that I was brought up, but this beautifully written book showed me how to look at it in a different light. I found it very helpful.

I received this ebook from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

At some point in each of our lives, we will face the death of a loved one. So many of us already have. Some of those losses will hit harder than others,

Our Faithful Departed is a look at what happens when we lose a loved one. This book is full of personal stories that help to illustrate the Church’s teachings on death and what it means for those of us still here.

It is so easy to feel like our loved ones are gone, that we are separated from them until it is our time to die. As the author explains, that is not the case. Just as humans were made for communion, so that remains when a loved one has passed. Not only are we called to pray for them, but we can also ask them for prayer too. They are busy waiting to be reunited with their loved ones. The truth is that they never really leave us, our departed are still with us, albeit differently than when they were here with us.

I appreciated the depth of the church’s teachings in this book along with the stories. As someone who has dealt with a lot of lose during the past two years, this book was both thought provoking and comforting. It also helped me see new ways I need to be praying for both those I know that have died and those I do not know.

I voluntarily received a copy of this book from Ave Maria Press. All views are my honest opinion.

[Colleen Halpin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a beautiful read. DeLorenzo does an excellent job of offering reflections on death that are neither overly sentimental nor coldly abstract. He reflects on our departed loved ones from the vantage point of the deep Christian faith that gives us real, concrete hope in eternal life. After reading, I gave this book to a relative who had recently lost a loved one and I would encourage others to do the same.

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an ARC of, Our Faithful Departed by, Leonard J. DeLorenzo, the McGrath Institute for church life. It is so hard when a loved one dies. This book what the Catholic Church says about death, how we can still communicate with our loved ones, and much more. This book really helped me understand death, heaven, and Jesus much more.

[Maria Sepulveda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Insightfull

I'm not accustomed to reading such profound literature maybe due to lack of knowledge or confronting thoughts I have never heard before. After praying to the Holy Spirit for understanding and listening to a bishop talk about this, I began to understand a lot more.

[Cecilia Cicone · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s unclear if this is meant to be a popular catechetical presentation or a theological exhortation. Basic questions remain unanswered while biblical exegesis abounds.