Emerging Trends in Pregnancy-Loss Memorialization in American Catholicism

Pregnancy loss (miscarriage, stillbirth, and abortion) is an age-old, and typically hidden, part of women's lives, yet only in recent years has it started to receive recognition to match its prevalence. Based on ethnographic research, this article analyzes liturgical and memorial practices deve...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Walsh, Maureen L. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Cambridge Univ. Press [2017]
In: Horizons
Year: 2017, Volume: 44, Issue: 2, Pages: 369-398
IxTheo Classification:KBQ North America
KDB Roman Catholic Church
RC Liturgy
RG Pastoral care
ZB Sociology
Further subjects:B Memorials
B pregnancy loss
B American Catholicism
B Stillbirth
B Ritual
B Miscarriage
B Abortion
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Summary:Pregnancy loss (miscarriage, stillbirth, and abortion) is an age-old, and typically hidden, part of women's lives, yet only in recent years has it started to receive recognition to match its prevalence. Based on ethnographic research, this article analyzes liturgical and memorial practices developing within American Catholicism to acknowledge and commemorate pregnancy losses. Growing efforts have emerged as parishes, dioceses, and other Catholic organizations across the country have developed rites and memorials that provide formal ways to attend to grief that often accompanies experiences of miscarriage, stillbirth, and abortion. The memorials range from "miscarriage masses" to public monuments to postabortion ministry retreats. This article argues that these memorial practices seek to change how pregnancy-loss experiences are understood or "known" by ritual participants by reframing them within Catholic narratives of forgiveness and healing, thereby transforming situations of isolating loss into stories of grace, community, and shared sorrow.
ISSN:2050-8557
Contains:Enthalten in: Horizons
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1017/hor.2017.63