A Journey of Healing
Though often a hidden grief, miscarriage can be an experience of deep suffering. It can be overwhelming to navigate and difficult to know where to turn. The following ministries and resources are available to help you grieve the loss of your child and walk towards healing and hope.
Know of our prayers for you. You are not alone.
Gospel of Life Week
Gospel of Life Week
Teachers and Parents
– Adoption
– Loving Our Neighbors
– Knowing My Value
– Life is a Gift
– Learning to Forgive
– Respecting Others
– Caring for Those in Need
– The Beginning of Life
– Celebrating Special Needs
– Overcoming Differences
– Receiving Mercy
– Immigration
– Life is Precious
– Dignity at Every Age
– Marriage
– Caring for Creation
DREs and Catechists
– Grades PK-3
– Grades 4-6
– Grades 7-9
– Grades 10-12
Topics
– The Beginning of Life
– Knowing My Value
– Adoption
– Respecting Others
– Receiving Mercy
– Immigration
– Loving Our Neighbors
– Life is a Gift
– Life is Precious
– Dignity at Every Age
– Learning to Forgive
– Caring for Those in Need
– Marriage
– Caring for Creation
– Celebrating Special Needs
– Overcoming Differences
High School Resources
Youth Ministry Resources
Service Opportunities
Red Bird Ministries
Red Bird Ministries is an organization that upholds those carrying the cross of miscarriage and infant loss.
Through accompaniment and compassionate care, Red Bird Ministries guides individuals and couples through the complexity and trauma that happens with the loss of a child from pregnancy through adulthood. If you are interested in reaching out, we encourage you to explore the following support that Red Bird Ministries offers:
- Carried with Love: A comprehensive guide to caring for your body, mind, and spirit before, during, and after pregnancy and infant loss.
- Comfort Call: Schedule a call to share your story, explore resources, ask questions or pray together.
- Spiritual Direction: Receive spiritual guidance to walk through the complexity of the spiritual life and work through the obstacles that grief tends to create.
- Seen. Known. Loved: A virtual retreat for grieving mothers to experience hope, healing, and fellowship.
- The School of Grief: Join other parents of loss to explore what it means to grieve well.
- App + Community: A Catholic grief support app and community that provides solace and resources for families of child loss, such as: family support offerings, prayer plans, monthly webinars, retreats, and more.
- Miscarriage Parents Handbook: A compassionate resource for families traversing the depths of pregnancy loss.
Revival: A Grieving Mother’s Retreat
Red Bird Ministries will be hosting an overnight weekend retreat for mothers grieving the loss of a child through miscarriage and stillbirth. For more information about the retreat and/or to register, please contact us.
Dates: March 27-29th, 2026
Location: National Shrine of Mary Help of Christians, Stony Point, NY
Grieving with Hope: Miscarriage and Pregnancy Loss
Grieving with Hope: Miscarriage and Pregnancy Loss is a special companion to accompany mothers through processing the loss of a child, in particular, loss by miscarriage or stillbirth.
Co-Authored by Katie Weiss (Founder of Behold) and Margalita Poletunow, LPC, LMHC (a miscarriage and infant loss therapist), this book includes reflections, visio divina, and additional resources. It also contains witness stories by three women who have experienced loss in various forms. It is our hope that this companion provides the opportunity for you or a loved one to feel seen, known, and loved in the midst of child loss.
The Respect Life Office has complementary copies available for mothers of miscarriage – please email us to request one.
Behold is a program specifically designed to teach women how to pray through Visio Divina. Visio Divina allows God to change one’s life by listening to Him and encountering Him through art.
A Mom’s Peace: This apostolate seeks to bring peace by discretely supporting mothers with burial, bereavement and remembrance programs. They lovingly guide families through difficult decisions in the immediate wake of loss.
Miscarriage Hurts: Miscarriage Hurts is a confidential space for those who are touched by miscarriage and wish to tell their story and begin the process of healing.
Catholic Miscarriage Support: This website is to meant to provide immediate, practical support for those who have lost a child to miscarriage.
Heaven’s Gain Ministries: This ministry provides for the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of families experiencing pregnancy loss before, during, and after the delivery of their precious baby. They offer baby caskets and infant urns that reflect the dignity of miscarried or stillborn babies.
These are a few ways you can walk through the process of grief with the sacraments and with your child.
Funeral Mass: Arranging for the funeral and burial of a child is often an important part of the grieving and healing process. You can request a funeral, memorial service, and/or burial service through your local parish. More information about funeral arrangements can be found here.
Naming Your Child: You can consider naming your child. This may help you acknowledge his or her unique identity, and give your grief a more specific place to go. You can also pray for your child by name and ask him or her to pray for you. More information about naming your baby can be found here.
Mass of Remembrance: Consider having a Mass offered in memory of your child regularly, even after the time of initial grief has passed. Or, consider holding a community-wide Mass of Remembrance for miscarried and stillborn infants, so that other families who have also experienced this loss can gather to pray together.
Request a Blessing: The Blessing of Parents After a Miscarriage can be offered by a priest or deacon. It is given by the Church specifically to “assist parents in their grief and console them with the blessing of God.”
Shrine of the Unborn: The Shrine of the Unborn at the Church of the Holy Innocents in Manhattan is dedicated to all children who have died before birth. To have a child’s name inscribed in the Book of Life, visit their website.
Other ways of honoring and remembering your baby can be found here.
Within the Archdiocese of New York, the following Catholic cemeteries have designated places for the burial of infants lost through miscarriage, which are often referred to as “Guardian Angel” plots or shrines. Available at little or no cost, these places offer a resting place of reverence and dignity. We encourage you to contact the cemeteries directly for further information.
- Address: 650 Saddle River Road, Airmont, NY 10952
- Phone: 845-352-7220
- There is a Guardian Angel / Sisters of Life combined monument and section for the burial of infants lost before birth. The monument reads “Sisters of Life and God’s Beloved Infants,” and members of the Sisters of Life will also be buried alongside the unborn.
- Address: 10 W. Stevens Avenue, Hawthorne, NY 10532
- Phone: 914-769-3672
- The Guardian Angel shrine is available for the burial of children.
- Address: 361 Sharrott Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10309
- Phone: 718-356-7738
- The Guardian Angel plot is available for the burial of children.
- Address: 2600 Lafayette Avenue, Bronx, New York 10465
- Phone: 718-792-1133
- A Garden of Innocents has been designated for the burial of children, and a nearby vault includes the babies’ names.
Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral Cemetery
- Address: 263 Mulberry St, New York, NY 10012
- Phone: 212-226-8075 ext. 1008
- The Niche for the Unborn is reserved for the inurnment of unborn children.
- Address: 49-02 Laurel Hill Blvd, Woodside, NY 11377
- Phone: 718-786-8000
- Children may be buried within family plots, rather than in a designated section.
In New York State, there are certain legal requirements for the burial of unborn and stillborn children. Catholic cemeteries are familiar with these requirements and can help you navigate the process. Although this is a very difficult time for families, arranging for the funeral and burial of a child is often an important part of the grieving and healing process.
Loss of a child at 20 weeks or more of gestation: For children lost at 20 weeks of gestation or more, New York State requires that a funeral home be contacted and a burial or cremation planned for the baby. The best practice is to have a funeral director obtain the fetal death certificate and required disposition permit, and then make arrangements with the hospital for the transfer of a child’s remains.
Loss of a child before 20 weeks of gestation: To arrange for the burial of a child lost before 20 weeks of gestation, the best practice is to contact the cemetery directly and ask about their burial options. For example, some Catholic cemeteries within the Archdiocese of New York have Guardian Angel plots that are available for little or no cost (see listing above). If the child is miscarried in a hospital, a funeral director can obtain the fetal death certificate and make the arrangements for the transfer of the child’s remains. Red Bird Ministries provides more information about caring for the body of a child miscarried before 20 weeks:
Grieving Together: A Couple’s Journey through Miscarriage by Laura and Franco Fanucci. Drawing from Catholic tradition and teaching, this book is written by a couple specifically for couples, understanding that both spouses have experienced a loss and grieve differently.
After Miscarriage: A Catholic Woman’s Companion to Healing & Hope by Karen Edmisten. A book about grief, healing, and hope after miscarriage. Not afraid to examine the raw emotions that accompany such an experience, the author tells women that they are not alone in reacting strongly, even frighteningly, to their loss and reassures them that hope and healing will come.
Journey in Love: A Catholic Mother’s Prayers after Prenatal Diagnosis by Kathryn Anne Casey. A sensitive, supportive resource from an author who knows this suffering firsthand. Kathryn walks with you through the stages of grief, helps you to pray even when you feel you cannot, sheds new light on the comfort and grace of the Church’s traditional prayers, and provides meditations tied to the liturgical year. Download the free e-book.
Solace and Strength in the Sorrow of Miscarriage: A piece published by the USCCB on the realities and effects of miscarriage, and how we can walk with those we love through it.