Most people don’t know about our Ministry, so we thought we would share some information with the parish.  We have 28 ministers, some are husband and wife teams, who serve the sick and homebound of our parish.  Some ministers make home visits, some hospital visits.  Some ministers take Communion to homes and some take to Rosewood, Heritage Woods and Loyalton.  Every Sunday, there are about 8 people we bring Communion to in their homes, 13 at Rosewood, 7 at Loyalton and 10-14 at Heritage Woods.  Some people we visit are long term and some are for a few weeks, just while they are recovering from surgery or illness.

We say it is a real privilege to be an Extraordinary Minister to the Sick and Homebound.  Did you know you need to be recommended by our pastor and commissioned by Bishop Doran in order to take Communion to the sick and homebound?  The term is 3 years and may be renewed for another 3 years.  There are guidelines from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops that the ministers must follow.  No one can take it upon themselves to take Communion to someone they know is not able to come to Mass, unless they have this commissioning.  There is an exception for short-term “ministers” which the pastor can appoint, and Father always keeps our ministry informed of these ministers and those they visit.

Our ministry tries our best to keep an up-to-date list of those parishioners we know who are in nursing homes, assisted living, or are homebound.  Some of these parishioners prefer  their privacy, so we send cards during the year.

If you are interested in becoming one of our ministers, we would love to have you.  Or if you know of someone would could use a friendly visit or phone call occasionally, let us know.  The rewards are too great to mention! 

Mary Dixon and Kathy Whitcomb

Co-coordinators of the

Homebound Ministry