After her husband died suddenly in October 2011, Colleen Fredelake went looking for something she struggled to find: A place where she could work through her grief in a church setting.
Colleen Fredelake leads “Grief Support — A Path to Compassionate Healing,” a nine-week grief support ministry offered at two Milwaukee-area parishes. (Submitted photo)
Eventually, she found a grief therapist who helped her navigate what she describes as the “hills, mountains and valleys” that followed her loss. The experience ultimately helped lead Fredelake toward a ministry of accompanying others through grief.
In 2015, Fredelake enrolled in the Siena Center in Racine to train as a spiritual director. By the end of the two-year program, she felt increasingly called to work with people struggling after the death of a loved one.
That calling became Grief Support — A Path to Compassionate Healing, a nine-week program Fredelake initially offered through Sacred Heart Parish in St. Francis. She has continued the ministry for the past five years at her current parish, St. Francis of Assisi in Milwaukee, and expanded it to Divine Mercy Parish in 2024.
“Ask anyone who has lost a loved one: Grief really never goes away, but we learn to carry our pain differently as we heal,” Fredelake said.
The program brings participants together in a confidential setting where trust can develop as they work through their grief. Fredelake said some participants have returned for the program more than once, encountering their grief from a different place in the healing process each time.
This fall, the free program will be offered at two Milwaukee area parishes. Sessions at St. Francis of Assisi Parish, 1937 Vel R. Phillips Ave., Milwaukee, will run from 6 to 8 p.m. Mondays, Sept. 21-Nov. 16. Sessions at Divine Mercy Parish, 695 E. College Ave., South Milwaukee, will run from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesdays, Sept. 22–Nov. 17.
For information or to register, contact Fredelake at 414-303-4009 or cfredelake@gmail.com.
(Stock Photo)
