FAQ
- Q: What is health care ministry?
- A: Health care ministry flows
directly from the Gospel and Jesus' example of compassionate concern for
the sick and vulnerable. Catholic pastoral caregivers serve as visible
expressions of the presence of God and the care of the Church during the
experience of illness.
-
- Q: Who are health
care ministers?
- A: Professional health care
ministers are priests, deacons, religious sisters and brothers, and lay
women and men who serve as chaplains and pastoral health care ministers
in: acute care hospitals, long term care institutions, rehabilitation hospitals,
hospices, other health care settings and parishes.
-
- Q: What is the role
of pastoral health care ministry in the parish?
- A: The parish is the primary
provider of pastoral outreach to the sick, the homebound, nursing home
residents and the terminally ill through visitation, prayer and the sacraments.
This pastoral care is generally shared by parish staff members and parish
volunteers who serve as Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion and/or
Pastoral Visitors.
-
- Q: How does the Office of Parish Outreach Ministries/Health Care Ministry support parish health care ministry?
- A: The Office of Parish Outreach Ministries/Health Care Ministry provides information and consultation to parishes. It presently
is involved in projects to assist parishes to:
- - Support the ministry of parish pastoral
visitation volunteers
- - Extend sacramental care and pastoral outreach
to Catholic residents of nursing homes
- - Provide supportive care to the terminally
ill and their loved ones
- - Establish collaborative ministry in hospitals
not served by a chaplain
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