Touch anyone and you touch grief, the grief of losing someone beloved. There’s grief, and there’s the grief born of a tragic death such as from suicide. Socially, and even as a Church, we often don’t know how to respond.

With his departed friend Chris and his junior high students top of mind, Tyler Weber pushed himself to a personal best bike ride of 225.8 kilometres in just over nine hours in a journey to raise awareness of suicide prevention.

A Saskatchewan judge has ruled against the provincial government and in favour of the religious freedom of a Métis man fasting and praying on the front lawn of the Saskatchewan legislature for a more robust suicide prevention strategy.

LIMA, Peru - The president of Peru's conference of bishops called for calm after two-time former Peruvian President Alan Garcia died April 17 after shooting himself in the head as authorities prepared to arrest him.

COCHIN, India – Ouseph Pappachan, a physically challenged farmer in flood-ravaged Kerala, said he and his wife are alive now because of Sister Regin Mathew.

WASHINGTON – A Michigan priest criticized for emphasizing suicide in his homily during a recent funeral for an 18-year-old who took his own life has since apologized.

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad – Local counselors are concerned about a growing tendency among adolescents and young adults to choose suicide or self-harm and the limited scope of ministry available in local Catholic parishes for suicide prevention or family healing.

VATICAN – The courage, prayer and creativity that should characterize every Jesuit's ministry must be especially present when ministering to young people who are unemployed and feel hopeless, Pope Francis said.

To the boys on the senior high school soccer team, it was only natural to reach out to people their age who were suffering in the northern part of the province. 

YAOUNDE, Cameroon – Catholic bishops in Cameroon said a bishop whose body was pulled from a river in early June did not commit suicide, but was murdered.

OXFORD, England – Catholic leaders in Cameroon have urged prayers for one of the African country's bishops, whose remains were pulled from a river June 2, three days after his apparent suicide.

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – Parishioners were distressed after a priest of the Diocese of Brooklyn posted a meme on Facebook that encouraged Trump opponents to commit suicide.

I can’t express the sadness my heart feels at the rising rate of suicide among young people today. The numbers are staggering and I feel helpless thinking of so many who have lost hope.

It is possible I am simply dense and if so, allow me to apologize from the very beginning.

The Supreme Court ruling that legalized assisted suicide last year didn’t just find a technical problem in the wording of the Criminal Code. It said that Canadians have a right to ask for and receive state-sanctioned aid in killing themselves under certain circumstances.