Adult Faith Formation
Rose Mary Saraiva is Director of Religious Education here at St. Michael Parish, Fall River, MA. She also works at the Diocesan Faith Formation Office in Bereavement Ministry and also as an Events Coordinator.
She is also married, mother of 3 children and grandmother to 2 grandchildren. Her oldest daughter, Rachel, died on September 9, 2006 at the age of 23. The picture you see below is of a painting of Rachel created by Artist Anthony Ferao.
Rose Mary has taken the time to document her Bereavement journey by writing a blog entitled: Living with Grief: Sharing my journey through grief, in the hopes of helping others. Rose Mary’s blog is a testament to her ongoing healing journey through grief. Below is a short excerpt from Rose Mary’s blog…
“My life is a constant whirl of motion, taking me in new directions, allowing me to grow, to become renewed each and every day. We are asked to continually invest in ourselves, and occasionally to ‘reinvest’ in who we are becoming. Grief is difficult, but when we allow ourselves the space, when we go through it, rather than circumvent it, we allow ourselves to be ‘reborn.’ And though we may come out kicking and screaming, we do come out, we do make it, we are fine, and we are given new chances to make life all the more worthwhile, for not only ourselves, but for those around us as well. So that each and every day is a ‘birth day,’ a new beginning, and a chance to cash in on our investment.”
You may read her full blog by clicking the following link: http://rmsaraiva.blogspot.com/.
Ever since the death of her daughter, Rose Mary has had a relentless passion to help grieving families that have experienced loss, just as she has. While still maintaining her current work schedule, Rose Mary went back to school at BCC, and will be completing her certification in Thanatology this coming December 2011. With this certificate she will be able to act as a grief facilitator, helping ease others through their bereavement and grief journey. She will be able to comfort others who are grieving and somehow lighten their load, when possible, because of her experience with experiencing a significant loss; she understands the pain and can relate very deeply and profoundly to families experiencing grief.