Welcome to Jude’s Garden

There’s a special place on our website that you may or may not know about. It is perhaps one of the most impactful pieces of The Fruitful Hollow; welcome to Jude’s Garden. Jude’s Garden is a virtual place of remembrance for hundreds of souls who are no longer earthside, but will never be forgotten. As I’m writing this article, there are currently over 305 souls listed by name from 14 different countries around the world, including: United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Luxembourg, Ireland, India, New Zealand, Tanzania, Singapore, Malta, Philippines, France and Mexico. The oldest significant date listed is January 1952: 74 years ago. 

We at The Fruitful Hollow have accompanied a great number of women in our community who have experienced the unique cross and suffering that comes with miscarriage and/or child loss. The grief and pain can be overwhelming, even to someone who has not personally experienced this loss. I have heard many women talk about the realization that even in the deepest parts of their heartbreak and loss, often the world has no idea what happened. Those who do decide to share their experiences with loved ones are often met with well-meaning remarks that miss the point or by a silence that hurts more than words ever could. 

Throughout the course of time, human beings have created ways to grieve and ceremonies/customs for the end of a life. These ceremonies are not always only for the benefit of the dead (though we Catholics do pray for the souls of our departed loved ones), but they are for the living too. They are necessary and can be a helpful step for learning how to adjust to the new normal. Places such as gravesites offer a physical place to go to when needed, for important anniversaries and for moments when the grief feels heavier than usual. For couples who have no physical remains to bury, often there is no special place to go to for these moments. Often the only customs or ceremonies they experience are the ones they pursue or create themselves. We are proud to offer a virtual space for families to visit to grieve. 

Jude’s Garden was created in October of 2023. At this time, The Fruitful Hollow was a few years old and no one on our team had experienced miscarriage personally. Due to the nature of our ministry, we have procedures in place regarding what team members are asked to do should they experience pregnancy, miscarriage or adoption, to protect other team members from being caught unawares by those potentially triggering announcements we all know well. Typically this includes sending an email to the team sharing the information with them, with a very specific TW subject line, and letting everyone know on a designated TW chat that there is an email which they can read when they're not busy or having a hard day. At that time, I was the director of the ministry. I had created the safeguards and in doing so I thought I was fully “prepared” to receive one of those emails. I was wrong. 

I’ll never forget receiving the news about the death of Baby Jude. I learned of his presence and departure in the same email. The email came in from our incredible editor, Katie, and her husband who shared their experience of miscarriage with us. I was speechless and completely at a loss for what to say or what to do. The grief was enormous and it shook me. Hearing about someone experiencing a miscarriage who you don’t personally know is a completely different experience from watching a very close friend who had been fighting battles in her infertility journey experience pregnancy and then the loss of a child. Jude’s passing came after YEARS of praying, hoping and waiting by his parents.

The rest of the team and I chatted about feeling helpless and wanting to do something for Katie and her husband who reside on the other side of the world. We came up with the idea of a virtual garden as a place of remembrance. The concept came to fruition as we created the space on the website. At our next team meeting, we introduced it to Katie and invited her to add the very first name. This virtual garden was created by the team in our own way and effort to grieve and to accompany our friend. Jude is now joined in the garden by his brother Gabriel, who was added only last month. 

This October, I encourage you to visit the garden and ask for the intercession of these tiny souls. If you have experienced miscarriage/child loss and have not added a name to the garden, please feel free to do so. You can submit a name into the garden via the Google Form on our website, found here. Submissions are completely anonymous. The form asks for a name (this can be an actual name or simply “Baby X”, however you refer to your little one), your country, and a significant date (month and/or year, which may be when the loss occurred or when they would have been due). 

Visiting the garden offers a unique experience. Stop by and read through the list of names, countries and dates; you may experience a sense of awe, sorrow and beauty. In the garden there is peace and rest. It’s also a numinous reminder that we are never alone in our grief. These souls have all left an international and eternal impact, even if others don’t see or even know they existed.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May their souls and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen

Note: You may notice that the garden is not as aesthetic

ally pleasing as we’d like it to be. However, it is built so that it updates in real time, no matter where you are in the world. Since submissions come in via a Google Form, I get an email each time a name is added to the garden. When this happens, I stop to say a prayer for the grieving and to welcome the soul into Jude's Garden. If you have a name or names in the garden, I would like you to know that we at The Fruitful Hollow are praying for you and we are so very sorry for your loss and grief.