Compassion Sabbath, an interfaith initiative to help clergy and congregations minister to seriously ill and dying people, reflects our growing need to respond to personal and spiritual challenges posed by the advances of modern medicine.

  • Medical practice and biotechnological research have the potential to add decades to our lives but, sooner or later, all of us are living toward death. We want to live the last chapter of our life peacefully, without pain, and comforted by the knowledge that the people we love are taken care of, and will take care of us.
  • High-tech healthcare alone fails to meet the needs and wishes of seriously ill and dying persons.
  • Dying people and their families often turn to their faith communities for spiritual support during times of illness, or when they or someone they love is dying. But faith leaders tell us that they too need help to meet the spiritual, social and psychological needs of their members.