Trinity Episcopal Church
44 East Market St. Bethlehem PA 18018-5989 610-867-4741
Health Ministry and Pastoral Care
by Marius Bressoud for July 2002 Newsletter Warning to Readers: This headline implies that the writer knows more about our emerging Health Ministry than is actually the case. Please read with a discerning heart. --Marius Bressoud 6/17/02
I've been asked to write something for the Newsletter that explains Trinity's emerging Health Ministry and its relationship to our existing Pastoral Care Committee. Since I like to begin with basics, here's what our Book of Common Prayer affirms in its "Outline of the Faith" (on page 854.)
Q. What is the Church?
A. The Church is the community of the New Covenant.
That's really pretty basic. The New Covenant is the new relationship with God, won for us by Jesus Christ. It is a relationship that brings us into the kingdom of God and opens up for us life in all its fullness. The community of the Church at Trinity, Bethlehem, is our whole body of believers, committed to that relationship.
In a parish in perfect relationship with God and perfect community with each other I can imagine that pastoral care committees and health ministries would be unnecessary. We'd all just do it, not talk, meet, and write about it. But the reality of Trinity Church is that not one of us is fully within the kingdom and not one of us lives life at 100% of our potential fullness. We're just a bunch of flawed saints. We're not yet up to the tasks expected of us. So we've developed some focal points for communal caring and we call them "The Pastoral Care Committee" and the "Health Ministry." We've had the former for more than 30 years. The latter is in process of formation.
We're not yet sure where one ends and the other begins. We don't know yet how to divide the responsibilities. We're not even certain which tasks should be divided. But let's look at some of the things that Pastoral Care has been doing for many years and some that our emerging Health Ministry is considering and see how they may complement or supplement each other:
The Pastoral Care Committee maintains regular contact on a long term basis with parishioners who are chronically ill or shut-in and ministers to others both within and outside the parish who are ill or in crisis. Our primary purpose is to become friends with those who are alone or feel isolated and help them experience their connection to the larger parish community. Visits by Eucharistic Visitors (also called Lay Eucharistic Ministers), taking Holy Communion to these parishioners, are an essential element in our contacts. We inform the clergy when their pastoral attention is needed. Committee members are not qualified to assess health care needs nor knowledgeable about health care resources. We are unable to provide financial counsel or assist in the management of personal affairs. When these needs arise we seek help outside the committee. Individual members of the committee have sometimes provided transportation on an ad hoc basis but that has not been a structured part of its work.
The Health Ministry has, as a vision for its future, the ability to assess health care needs, make referrals to appropriate professional sources, and monitor the delivery of health care services. It is already clear that it should not and will not provide hands-on nursing care. The Ministry also is developing a register of parishioners who can provide a variety of services including financial counsel and help in managing personal affairs. It hopes to provide assistance with transportation to medical appointments and for other essential personal needs. There are other services it could provide if volunteer professionals are available to offer them.
The organizers hope that the Ministry will become a mutual thing. As Mother Laura Howell says, we all can give-even in small ways-and most of us have various sorts of needs, if only information.
The Pastoral Care Committee members support, strengthen and advise each other in the problems and opportunities of our individual assignments, primarily during our monthly meetings.
The Health Ministry probably will develop a similar process, though it seems to this writer that it will require much more frequent, sometimes daily, cross consultation.
The Pastoral Care Committee oversees the distribution of altar bouquets and plants. Many parishioners beyond the committee participate in doing this. It maintains contact with young parishioners away at school or in the Armed Forces. This is a task in which the Vestry plays an important part by preparing and mailing cookies once each year to these students and service people. The Committee also mails or delivers Sunday bulletins to those shut-ins capable of reading them, and it makes large print material available to those who are visually impaired.
The Health Ministry need not be concerned with administering these details, though it may wish to suggest people to receive flowers or large print material.
The Pastoral Care Committee has a small program budget that covers routine committee expenses like postage and stationery. It also administers a restricted fund that provides $1500 in extra-budgetary income each year. This permits us to make a number of small grants both within and outside the parish to causes that meet the criteria of the endowment's donor. Recently, for instance, we provided new eyeglasses for a parishioner, made possible through endowment income and the caring initiative of the shut-in's contact person. That certainly could be considered a "health care" need.
The Health Ministry has no present source of income. But that's not its primary problem at this time. Its primary problem is...
too many in need of help,
too many unknown needs, and
too few known helpers.
The Health Ministry has begun to address these issues by canvassing those who have attended its formation meetings. It is discovering what the real needs are and what talents and time are available to meet them. Already we have found that many with needs are also the ones with talents and time to minister to the needs of others. But we need to know more. Therefore…
Following this article is a form is available in the church's take-one rack (in hallway at front of the building) for you to fill out for the Health Ministry, that will give it needed information about
those who need help,
the kinds of help that are needed, and
the helpers who are available.
Please find it, fill it out, and get it to the parish office.
