November is National Hospice and Palliative Care Month, an opportunity to learn how compassionate care can support people living with serious illness and those approaching the end of life. Catholics are called to accompany those who suffer, support their caregivers and uphold the dignity of every person until natural death.
The resources below offer Catholic guidance for individuals and families facing end-of-life decisions.
Parish information: The USCCB’s Catholic Care for the Sick and Dying parish leader kit includes educational and pastoral resources in English and Spanish. Consider sharing these materials with parishioners, caregivers and those involved in ministry to the sick and homebound.
Catholic Care for the Sick and Dying resources
Catholic Faith Community Leader Kit
This Catholic Care for the Sick and Dying leader kit is a special edition of the monthly resource Word of Life. This edition is not month-specific and is dedicated to providing resources surrounding end-of-life issues. The resource is available in English and Spanish. Learn more.
Samaritanus bonus
In 2020, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith released the letter Samaritanus bonus, “on the care of persons in the critical and terminal phases of life.” The letter reaffirms the Church’s teaching on care for those who are critically ill or dying and offers additional pastoral guidance for increasingly complex situations at the end of life.
- Compendium
- Study Guide
- Witness of the Good Samaritan: Palliative Care and Hospice – This four-page document offers a brief overview of key points from Samaritanus bonus with a specific focus on what it says about palliative care and hospice.
Prayers
Heavenly Father, thank you for the precious gift of life. Help us to cherish and protect this gift, even in the midst of fear, pain, and suffering. Give us love for all people, especially the most vulnerable, and help us bear witness to the truth that every life is worth living. Grant us the humility to accept help when we are in need, and teach us to be merciful to all. Through our words and actions, may others encounter the outstretched hands of Your mercy. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Every Life is Worth Living, © 2015, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington, DC. All rights reserved.
Dearest St. Joseph, at the word of an angel, you lovingly took Mary into your home.
As God’s humble servant, you guided the Holy Family on the road to Bethlehem, welcomed Jesus as your own son in the shelter of a manger, and fled far from your homeland for the safety of both Mother and Child.
We praise God that as their faithful protector, you never hesitated to sacrifice for those entrusted to you. May your example inspire us also to welcome, cherish, and safeguard God’s most precious gift of life.
Help us to faithfully commit ourselves to the service and defense of human life —especially where it is vulnerable or threatened. Obtain for us the grace to do the will of God in all things. Amen.