The bishops of the United States are set to vote this week to create a new book of prayers for the comfort and healing of the sick specifically designed for laypeople to use. Father Andrew Menke ...

Where he’d normally have anointed her forehead with oil, he read her a prayer by phone ... incorporates rites meant to offer blessing or comfort when the end is near, and some call for friends ...

while others seek comfort in family and friends. There are also those who turn to spirituality, praying prayers like the powerful plea to St. Francis of Assisi, especially dedicated to sick animals.

The First United Methodist Church’s Threads of Comfort nondenominational prayer shawl ministry recently delivered its 100th shawl. Young mothers, the elderly and grieving and sick residents have ...