Faced with a fatal diagnosis, theologian writes a moving book about life and death

It is the calling of professional theologians to apply the Church's faith to everyday life and contemporary issues. In exceptional cases, this call can be deeply personal when it comes to Christian death. For Richard Gaillardetz, a prominent theologian at Boston College and former president of the Catholic Theological Society of America, a diagnosis of terminal pancreatic cancer in February 2022 led to a rare invitation to grapple with his own dying in a series of faith reflections that culminated in his death on November 7, 2023.

As long as I breathe, I hope: A mystagogy of dying presents these reflections, which first appeared as short essays on CaringBridge, an online journal for supporting family and friends. The title of the book, translated from an old Latin proverb, “Dum spiro, dare“conveys the essence of Christian hope to overcome the fact and inevitability of human death through faith in the resurrection of Jesus. The subtitle places this challenge in the same formation that newly baptized Christians enter at Easter as they delve into the central claim of the Paschal Mystery of Jesus as the key to their journey to the maturation of their new-found faith.

Gaillardetz's own immersion in this mystery deepened as his theological training prepared him well to bear witness to its power to define the Christian life. After teaching theology for two decades in Texas and Ohio, Gaillardetz became a lecturer at Boston College in 2011. During his career he published numerous articles and was the author, co-author, or editor of 12 books on authority and structure in the Church and on the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, including An Unfinished Council: The Second Vatican Council, Pope Francis and the Renewal of Catholicism And Key to the Council: Deciphering the Teachings of the Second Vatican CouncilHis time at Boston College was embroiled in many of the controversies that marked the end of the pontificates of Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis, whose commitment to promoting Pope John XXIII's vision of a renewed Church toward a synodal model of government has characterized his pontificate.

Gaillardtetz's prominent role at Boston College and his national standing in the theological community provided the backdrop for his cancer treatments, which began just before Lent 2022 and ended with his death as the Church entered Advent 2023. The book traces his 20-month journey through the Church's liturgical cycles and offers a compendium of resources and voices from historical and contemporary witnesses to the meaning of Christian death and the promise of life after death.

Gaillaretz's reflections allow the reader to share in the intimate challenges of his cancer treatment. CT scans, infusions of drugs designed to slow cancer growth and destroy cancer cells, re-examinations and rest to cope with the debilitating side effects defined his life. The months of treatment the Gaillardetz family endured meant periods of exhaustion and loss, followed by times of recovery before the next round of infusions.

Gaillardetz writes about the humbling experience of physical dependence and the struggle to accept the full support of his wife Diana, their adult children and their families, followed by rest breaks, even travel and family gatherings, as tests indicated the next steps in confronting a cancer considered terminal. The family's determination to live each moment with hope is evident, making this book an important resource for other cancer patients planning their treatment strategies with realism and confidence.

The book also addresses a number of difficult questions about death and the role of God in human prayer and the inexplicable suffering of life: Who is God in our personal requests for healing and help? What security is offered by praying for the sick, celebrating the sacraments, and linking our suffering to the cross of Christ as something redemptive? How can we submit to the providence and inevitability of death as part of natural life?

Gaillardetz's final offering, like that of many parents, spouses, friends and believers leaving this world, may be that he reserves his last breaths as an invitation to us to continue to hope not in visible signs but in that which surpasses all words, the universal faith that love is stronger than death. A public life in the service of the Church is now completed by a public sharing of the experience of gratefully accepting death, embraced by Christian hope.