Churches have failed to emphasis a message of hope to help people who over-dwell on the sadness of death, overcome grief.
The presenter of ABC TV’s Compass, Geraldine Doogue, said last week in a radio interview on ABC 720 that the sign of a decently tilled faith is that it tells you death is an invitation to life but no church had emphasised this message.
“A lot of the unchurched I found – and I can’t tell you the letters I got – are people who are almost marooned overinvesting in grief and to me it’s actually a sign of being stuck, and not seeing the message of hope that all good religions offer you,” she said.
Doogue has presented Compass since 1998, a program that looks at issues of spirituality, philosophy and belief. A Catholic herself, Doogue grew up in Western Australia and began her journalism career as a cadet at The West Australian.
In August 2012, Doogue’s husband, Ian Carroll, an ABC executive, died from pancreatic cancer.
Doogue said she called upon her faith during the difficult time of her husband’s death.
“Not in that sort of old bidding prayers notion, of course you have your moments, ‘please God, take away this cancer’, but in a way I think the older you get, the more you know that’s too simple,” she said.
“It takes away the abyss. I think that is its real yield, that you don’t feel totally alone, you do feel life’s worth the candle even in moments of terrible, terrible sadness.”
She said she was worried about the Church’s disarray and that a lot of young people would not be introduced to the safety net of the Church.
“All those codes and all of that wonder of the tradition, and the wisdom, and the beautiful artistry – all of that is on offer in our art and our music, in our liturgy, in our ritual,” she said.
She said the power and enormous comfort ritual gave people should never be underestimated.
“The rituals around Ian’s death, and then Ian’s daughter, Genevieve, my stepdaughter, had a first baby three weeks afterwards, the ritual around that [was] immensely consoling.”
“Churches deliver that extremely well, others can devise it but I do believe it is on offer there very readily in churches.
“It’s an invitation to get on with the next stage of life.”