The Compassionate Friends Worldwide Candle Lighting on the 2nd Sunday in December unites family and friends around the globe in lighting candles for one hour to honor the memories of the sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, and grandchildren who left too soon. As candles are lit on December 11th, 2022 at 7:00 pm local time, hundreds of thousands of people commemorate and honor the memory of all children gone too soon.
Now believed to be the largest mass candle lighting on the globe, the annual Worldwide Candle Lighting (WCL), a gift to the bereavement community from The Compassionate Friends, creates a virtual 24-hour wave of light as it moves from time zone to time zone. TCF’s WCL started in the United States in 1997 as a small internet observance and has since swelled in numbers as word has spread throughout the world of the remembrance. Hundreds of formal candle lighting events are held, and thousands of informal candle lightings are conducted in homes, as families gather in quiet remembrance of children who have died and will never be forgotten.
IMPORTANT: If you attempt to submit your candle lighting service and we do not contact you or your service is not listed within 48 hours, please contact kathiek@compassionatefriends.org.
We also will be holding a virtual candle lighting for those who would prefer to attend virtually. We will have four programs in the
Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific time zones.
Register below for your time zone.
Virtual Worldwide Candle Lighting
Every year you are invited to post a message in the Remembrance Book which will be available, during the event, at TCF’s national website. The Remembrance Book will be open to post a message Thursday, December 1st, through Friday, December 16th. Photos can be posted on our Worldwide Candle Lighting Facebook page.
The Compassionate Friends and allied organizations are joined by local bereavement groups, churches, funeral homes, hospitals, hospices, children’s gardens, schools, cemeteries, and community centers. Services have ranged in size from just a few people to nearly a thousand.
View International Countries
If you do not see a candle lighting program in your area, contact your local chapter to see if they are planning a program. Find a chapter.
St. John’s Lutheran Church, 1617 E. Emerson Street, Bloomington, Illinois
Speakers, special music, and reading of child(ren), grandchild(ren), sibling(s) names.
You may bring a photo of your child(ren), grandchild(ren), sibling(s) to display
Prior to the service, you may place an angel on the tree in the sanctuary
Queen of All Saints Basilica 6280 N Sauganash Ave, Chicago, IL 60646
Service will include readings, music and the reading of our child(ren), grandchild(ren), and sibling(s) names.
Welcome to bring pictures or keepsakes of your loved one, if you wish.
If you wish you have your child’s name included in our service, please email child(ren), grandchild(ren), and sibling(s) names to elizabethministry.qas@gmail.com
Mineral Springs Park Pavillion, 1701 Court St. Pekin, IL 61554
Harp music begins at 5:30 PM, special vocal music by Tara & Jake Beherends, messages by steering committee members, and candle lighting including child(ren), grandchild(ren), and sibling(s) names are read.
Photo of loved one
Refreshments
Immanuel Lutheran Church
1045 Belvidere Rd
Belvidere, Il 61008
Candle Lighting will be held in the fellowship hall
The name of each child being remembered will be shared.
Please bring a photo and all are invited to share a favorite memory if they wish.
Refreshments will be served.
Program will begin at 7:00 PM.
Bourbonnais Municipal Center
700 Main St NW
Bourbonnais IL 60914
We will display pictures and light candles in memory of our child(ren), grandchild(ren), and sibling(s). You are welcome to say something about your child(ren), grandchild(ren), and sibling(s).
Please bring a picture of your child(ren), grandchild(ren), and sibling(s) along with a dessert to share.
We will have dessert and beverages following the candle lighting.
St. Thomas Parish Center located at 306 W. Jourdan St., Newton, IL
The program will include readings, poems, music and the reading of the child(ren), sibling(s), and grandchild(ren) names.
Attendee’s are welcome to bring a picture to set behind a lit candle.
Lite refreshments will be available after the program.
St. Alexander Parish Center
300 S. Cornell
Villa Park, IL 60181
We are incorporating a candle lighting into our regular meeting on December 6th. Candles and votives will be provided. Some readings and special music will be included.
Please bring a framed photo of your child(ren), sibling(s), and grandchild(ren).
Please note that this is not the traditional Sunday date for the program. It is on the first Tuesday of December ,as part of our regular meeting.
