Affiliate Connect: The Unique Cross of Child Loss: Compassionate Accompaniment for the Bereaved

Wed, 09/16/2026 - 2:00pm EDT to 3:00pm

The Unique Cross of Child Loss: Compassionate Accompaniment for the Bereaved

Learn how to accompany families through the distinct grief of losing a child moving from an instinct to "fix" unfixable pain toward a ministry of presence. We will unpack the medical, financial, and emotional realities families face (often invisible to others) and understand how the Theology of the whole person is essential for dignity focused-pastoral care in all circumstances.

Open to diocesan AND parish leaders in Affiliate Dioceses! Registration links will be sent to diocesan disability ministry leaders one week prior to the event and we ask them to share the invitation with parish leaders.

Mental Illness

Prenatal and Postnatal Support

Family / Caregiver Support

General

English

Elizabeth Leon

Director of Family Support, Red Bird Ministries

Elizabeth Leon serves as the Director of Family Support for Red Bird Ministries, an organization that accompanies families through the complexity and trauma that happens after the loss of a child through miscarriage and stillbirth or as an infant, child, adolescent, or adult. She holds a BS from the College of William & Mary and graduate studies in social work from George Mason University, as well as a Level II Narrative Focused Trauma Certificate from the Allender Center. Elizabeth is the award-winning author of Let Yourself Be Loved: Big Lessons from a Little Life, a memoir about the life and death of her son from Trisomy 18. She is from Ashburn, Virginia.

Affiliate Connect: The Unique Cross of Child Loss: Compassionate Accompaniment for the Bereaved

The Unique Cross of Child Loss: Compassionate Accompaniment for the Bereaved

Elizabeth Leon

National Catholic
Partnership on Disability

Advancing the Meaningful Participation
of Persons with Disabilities in Church and Society