Death Café

Join us at the Marianne Cope Museum for an open conversation on a topic that connects us all: death.

Death Café, a globally recognized movement, offers a relaxed space to gather with others, share little treats, and talk honestly about our mortality and the end of life.

There are no lectures, no agenda and no pressure to speak. Come with questions or just listen to the experiences of others. When we talk openly about death, we lessen fears around it and break down taboos. In doing so we discover new ways to live our lives with greater meaning, courage and compassion.

Please note that this is not a grief support group or counseling session, but a chance for judgement free community dialogue in a safe and judgement-free environment.

All are welcome. Tea, coffee, and sweets provided.

This event is of the Compassionate Heart Series, which is a series of programs devoted to uplifting caregivers and patients through the values of presence, respect, and empathy. These events are presented in collaboration with Francis House, with support from St. Joseph’s Health and Nascentia Health.

• Date: Thursday, October 23
• Time: 5:30 p.m. – 7 p.m.
• Location: Saint Marianne Cope Museum

• Date: Saturday, November 15
• Time: 10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
• Location: Saint Marianne Cope Museum

The Compassionate Heart Series, presented by Saint Marianne Cope Museum in collaboration with is a series of programs that support the values of presence, respect, and empathy to caregivers and patients.

At the Saint Marianne Cope Museum, we celebrate a woman who was a pioneer in holistic healthcare. Her innovations in hygiene and hospital care, patients’ rights and whole mind, body and spirit healing, are especially relevant today. The compassion, hope, beauty and dignity given to her patients in the hospitals she administered is the foundation that we build upon through providing support services for people experiencing life’s challenges.

The Sister Kathleen Osbelt Center of Francis House uses our experience as a social-model of community care for the dying and our Franciscan values to increase awareness, educate, serve, and support persons with terminal illness and those who care for them. Our core values of compassion, acceptance, respect and dignity guide and inform our care and outreach. We offer community education aligned with empowering a healthy and natural dying and grieving process, and to support compassionate care for people on the journey at the end-of-life.

“The heart is more than an organ – it’s the center of our emotional, social and spiritual well-being.” Dr. Jonathan Fisher;

This ongoing series includes meaningful workshops and gatherings, such as an August book study of “Just One Heart” by Jonathan Fisher, MD, FACC and centers around a special Heart-to-Heart Conversation with Dr. Fisher in September. Each session offers a blend of reflection, storytelling, learning, and community. It is designed to nurture the inner lives of those who so often put others first.

Participants will learn how to align heart and mind in moments of care, navigate emotional challenges like burnout and moral injury, and rediscover meaning in the sacred act of caregiving. Whether you’re a healthcare professional, advocate, or family caregiver, this talk, and all the Compassionate Heart Series programs will offer powerful tools to care for others without losing yourself along the way.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Saint Marianne Cope Shrine & Museum, 601 North Townsend Street, Syracuse, United States