Disciples of Hope Parish Ministry to the Sick Module

A. What is the parish team?

A parish team is composed of three different groups of lay volunteers who, under the direction of the parish priest, visit and / or render a specific service to the sick in a comprehensive and coordinated way.

The different groups are the three “M’s”, namely, the ministry of the sacraments, the ministry of medical care, and the ministry of prayerful presence. Each of the three groups is composed of at least three (3) members.

B. How is each group composed?

1. The priest who is assisted by a “social worker” and a lay minister renders the ministry of the sacraments.

2. The ministry of medical care is rendered by a member of the allied medical professions (a retired, semi-retired, or active physician, a nurse, a physical therapist, or a pharmacist), a friendly visitor who could be trained to administer a prescribed medication, and a member of a mandated religious organization of the parish.

3. The ministry of prayerful presence is rendered by a group of three lay-volunteers that will visit the sick and provide companionship and conduct a prayer service.

C. How does one start the parish team?

1. Prepare a Master list of “social” workers, lay ministers, volunteers from the allied medical professions, friendly visitors who could be trained to administer prescribed or recommended drugs, and volunteers from various mandated religious organizations as well as those from any youth and civic organizations and individuals who simply wish to provide companionship and prayer service to the sick in the homes.

2. Three weekends of seminar/ workshops for the three M’s.

3. Purpose and aim of the workshops:

a) To organize a team that will do the work of the Church in assisting the sick in the Parish, especially the poor who cannot be attended to in the hospital.

b) To search out or identify those in need of care both physical and spiritual, and help fulfill their need.

c) To provide intensive spiritual preparation for the dying.

D. What are the desires of some members of the different M’s?

1. The priest administers the Sacraments of the sick and Reconciliation. The lay minister distributes Holy Communion.

2. The “social” worker identifies the other needs of the patient, gathers pertinent data for diagnosis, schedules visits, coordinates activities with the other members of the groups, and keeps a record of all visits and follow-ups of the entire parish team.

3. A friendly visitor provides the “ministry of presence” by mere presence or, if able and willing, by some physical or material assistance.

E. How is the medical attention team composed and how often does it serve?

It is composed of medical professionals who volunteer their work for the sick and the dying once a month. These volunteers can be any one of the following: an active physician volunteer, a retired physician volunteer, a nurse practitioner who takes history of patient and administers medical test for proper diagnosis by doctors, a paramedic such as: a trained nurse-assistant, a physical therapist in practicum, or a nurse-student.

F. Medication

Only medicines prescribed by doctors may be dispensed by the medication-givers who are trained to give medicine. Prescribed and/ or off-the-counter drugs will have to be recommended by the medical team after its initial visit, and these may be given by the following as a team:

1) Volunteer from the Legion of Mary or any member of any mandated religious organization in the parish

2) A student volunteer from any of the public or private schools

3) A member of any of any Religious Congregation (men and women) whose charism includes the care for the sick.

G. Other Visitors or hope-givers:

1) any one who wishes to visit the sick: children accompanied by an adult

2) a fellow sufferer (afflicted by the same sickness, as long as it is not contagious)

3) a member of any civic organization (youth and adults)

H. Who are the Sick to be visited?

1) the terminally ill
2) the undiagnosed, seriously ill
3) the chronic-homebound
4) the infirm, relative-less elderly
5) the handicapped

I. Formation:

Each of the 3 “M’s” will have its own formation program. This offers an outline only for 1 and 3, namely, the ministry of the sacraments, and the ministry of prayerful presence.

J. Action / apostolate

1. Home-visitation: Holy Communion, Confession, Anointing of the Sick, Rosary, Divine Mercy Chaplet

2. Occasional Healing Mass for a group of sick persons in one area

3. Retreat for the terminally ill (from 2 to 7 days)

4. Prayer meeting in the home

5. Visitation of the Statues of Mary or the Patron Saint of the Parish

K. Logistics:

1. Funding for the apostolate

2. Networking with other groups with similar goals

3. Production and distribution of materials to comfort the sick

4. Transportation of the sick to medical facilities

5. Procurement of inexpensive or free medicine

L. Flow-chart of activities by Parish Ministry to the Sick Clearing Desk

1. Recruits volunteers
2. Gather data on the sick
3. Maps out parish territory
4. Calls for seminars/ workshops
5. Assigns the three “M’s”
6. Schedules home-visitations and follow-ups
7. Asks for reports
8. Keeps record of reports
9. Calls for meetings/ recollection
10. Schedules on-going formation

M. Seminar Topics

Weekend one: The World of Human Suffering
The Priesthood of the Sick
“Do’s and Don’ts” in Home-visitation

Weekend two: The Christian meaning of suffering
The Art of Listening
Self-care for care-givers

Weekend three: Kubler Ross: On Death and Dying
The Seven Last Words of Christ
Liturgy of the Anointing of the Sick

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