Film & Discussion: ‘Seven Songs For a Long Life'

All are invited to attend a free screening of “Seven Songs for a Long Life,” a 2016 PBS documentary about the Strathcaron Hospice in Sterlingshire, Scotland. The screening will be held Friday, Oct. 13, at 7 p.m. at the Parish Hall of Our Mother of Consolation Church, 11 E. Chestnut Hill Ave.

Filming at the hospice over the course of four years, director Amy Hardie found that music and singing helps patients express a range of emotions and tap into memories and reflections on life, love and mortality. Her film touches on issues we will all face at some point in our lives, and shows how songs we love can help guide us. 

This event is a joint program of Our Mother of Consolation Catholic Church and Wellspring, the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields’ ministry for spiritual growth and care. 

A discussion following the film will feature speakers Scott Robinson and Laura Thomae. Robinson is an interfaith minister who works as a hospice chaplain at Brookdale Hospice in Wayne, PA and TLC Hospice in Trevose. Scott’s group Mandala performs his original interfaith kirtan, a type of call-and-response devotional music. His book, “The Dark Hills,” is available from Sacred Feet Publishing. Thomae is the Director of Complementary Therapies at Keystone Hospice in Wyndmoor. She is a board-certified music therapist and a singer and songwriter with 15 years of hospice experience. Laura has presented at various national conferences on the use of music therapy in hospice, and on the use of creativity and mindfulness to reduce stress and burnout in caregivers. 

For more information or to RSVP, contact Sister Christine Konolpelski at 215-247-0430 or christinessj@omcparish.com