On a crisp November Saturday in New York City, more than 100 people gathered for Life and Death in NYC—an inaugural convening that brought conversations about mortality, grief, aging, and meaning out of the shadows and into shared community. Hosted at the historic and beautiful Calvary–St. George’s, and organized in collaboration with our friends Here to Honor and All’s Well Initiative, the gathering created space for honesty, attentiveness, and hope in the midst of one of the most avoided realities of our lives.
Goldenwood’s participation in Life and Death in NYC was rooted in a distinctly Christian hope, that God is present not only in life but also in death, that love is not diminished by mortality, and that communities formed in truth and compassion can become places of healing. At the same time, this was intentionally not an event exclusively for fellow believers, and presenters and participants represented a range of faith traditions, spiritual paths, and lived experiences. What united the room was our shared humanity and a shared courage—the willingness to consider death honestly, together.
Again and again, participants named community as the highlight and center of the day. Lunch tables became places of story-sharing. Workshops became spaces of trust. Strangers became companions. For many, the most powerful takeaway was not a single insight, but the experience of being held—by music, conversation, presence.
From coffee and connections to plenary reflections, workshops, shared meals, and closing words, the day unfolded as a gentle but intentional rhythm, balancing learning and embodiment, lament and imagination, solitude and community.
“Being here filled me with such hope. Just knowing I’m on the path, and that there are others walking it with me.”
Watch a quick recap video of the full experience, and keep reading to get a closer look into each part of the day.
Welcome & Setting the Tone
The day opened with a welcome from Eva Ting, Founder and CEO of Here to Honor, who named the simple but profound reason for gathering: death touches every life in this city, yet we so rarely have spaces to talk about it with care and dignity. Eva invited participants into a posture of openness—acknowledging fear, curiosity, grief, and love alike—and reminded the room that none of us are meant to navigate mortality alone.
John Asirvatham, hospice chaplain and member of the parish of Calvary–St. George’s, offered opening reflections that grounded the day in both history and hope. Drawing on the Christian tradition, John reminded the room that the church once played a central role in helping people face death, not by denying its pain but by holding it within a larger story of meaning, love, and resurrection.
He spoke of memento mori—remembering our death—not as a morbid practice, but as a clarifying one. In a space often marked by either denial or “toxic positivity,” John invited participants to consider how facing mortality can restore honesty, tenderness, and presence to our lives. His words set a tone that resonated throughout the day.
Watch these two opening speakers here:
Plenary Reflections: Relearning How to Die – and Live
The morning plenary featured Lydia Dugdale speaking on, “The Lost Art of Dying.” Lydia traced how, over the last century, death in American culture has gradually moved out of homes and communities and into hospitals and institutions. What was once a shared, relational experience became increasingly hidden and professionalized.
Rather than romanticizing the past, Lydia named what has been lost: shared language for dying, communal practices of care, and the sense that death belongs to the fabric of ordinary life. She invited the room to consider how reclaiming attentiveness to death might actually restore depth and meaning to how we live now.
A key takeaway echoed across conversations that followed: learning how to die well is inseparable from learning how to live well—and neither is meant to be done alone.
Workshops: Many Pathways, One Shared Contemplation
Participants then moved into two rounds of workshops, each offering a different doorway into the themes of the day—practical, embodied, creative, and relational:
- Planning Ahead for Solo Aging & Thriving with Marni Blank, lawyer and end-of-life doula
- Live Music: Transformations for Grief with acclaimed vibraphonist Chris Dingman and end-of-life doula Daphne McWilliams
- From Life to Death: Mortality in Winemaking with winemaker Christopher Nicolson and chef Katy McNulty
- Sensing the City Walk with educator Sarah Gerth
- How to Talk About End-of-Life Planning with Katie Benn, oncology nurse
These sessions invited participants not only to think about grief and death, but to feel it, plan for it, walk with it, and speak about it, each in their own way.
“I already put reminders in my phone to start having these conversations with my parents. While it’s still daunting, I feel better equipped to know what to ask.”
At the Table: A Family Meal
Midway through the day, the gathering crossed an important threshold from personal reflection into shared life at the table. Lunch was offered not as a break from the program, but as a continuation of it: an invitation to practice community, hospitality, and care through the simple act of eating together.
In a culture where meals are often rushed or solitary, this lunch was intentionally shaped as a family-style experience, inviting people to sit with those they didn’t already know and to linger in conversation. Stories were shared, grief named, laughter exchanged. Bodies were nourished alongside souls.
Afternoon Plenary: Demystifying Death
The afternoon plenary, “Demystifying Death,” brought together a panel of practitioners working closely with dying, grief, and care: end-of-life doula Emma Acker, funeral home director Erica Hill (and co-owner of Sparrow, A Contemporary Funeral Home in Brooklyn, NY), and end-of-life doula Daphne McWilliams. Drawing from their lived experience, the panel gently dismantled common fears and misconceptions surrounding death.
They emphasized that while legal documents and logistics matter, it is ultimately relationships that carry people through death and dying. Care, they shared, is not a single role but a web of friends, chosen family, clinicians, doulas, and communities each offering presence in different ways. Death does not have to be hidden to be humane, and grief does not have to be rushed to be bearable.
“Being here reminded me that there is community in this work—and it made me feel less alone.”
Why this Matters for Goldenwood
Goldenwood’s mission is rooted in the conviction that hope is formed through spiritual attentiveness, and that communities shaped by love can bear witness to God’s presence even in places of fear and loss. Life and Death in NYC reflects this vision—not by preaching, but by practicing presence and cultivating our sense of shared humanity.
In a fractured and anxious world, events like this offer a glimpse of what it looks like to bear hope together, across traditions, professions, and life stages. This gathering was not a conclusion, but an opening. A reminder that even in the face of death, love endures, and hope, grounded in God, remains.
We are grateful to our partners, presenters, participants, and event sponsors – and especially to the Goldenwood supporters who make this kind of quiet, faithful work possible. Thank you!
Photography by Yuan Ginsberg
Videography by Nate Mancini
Happy New Year!
I wondered what the costs were for Bearing Hope Together in the Face of Mortality | A Recap of Life and Death in NYC and the dates for attendence.
Thank you
Cynthia Grguric
Hi Cynthia, Thanks for your interest, and Happy New Year to you too! This event already took place on Nov 8, 2025 but we’ll be sure to provide info about any similar offerings that we may hold in the future. You can stay tuned to our Events page here on the website. Hope to see you soon!
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