Ordo Praedicatorum

CELEBRATING PASTORAL Care Week – October 21-27, 2007

“I do not pray for success. I ask for faithfulness.”- Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

Each year the Friars, Sisters, Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, and Parish Staff of St. Catherine of Siena Church and Priory are celebrated and acknowledged for their ministry of service to patients, families and staff at the Hospital for Special Surgery, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center, and Rockefeller University Hospital. In this noble work of the Church and in the Dominican tradition we bring the healing ministry of Jesus Christ to all who are in search of healing, relief of suffering, and hope.

The year’s theme for Pastoral Care Week emphasizes healing faith and recalls for us God’s gift of faith and joy and how these contribute to healing and hope to all we serve particularly during difficult moments and experiences. This theme also helps us reflect on the deeper meaning of the value of human life from conception to natural death; our reconciliation of bodily limitations; the development of more meaningful caring and healing relationships; the respect for individual and cultural differences; a dedication to justice and mercy; and to an incarnation of love and hope and indeed joy.

We fulfill our health care ministry without any conditions or limitations, recognizing the inherent dignity of all persons regardless of the status of their lives, their color or gender, or the reason for their illness. St. Catherine of Siena, in her Dialogue, writes about her conversation with God with these words “open the eye of your mind and gaze into Me, and I will see the dignity and beauty of the human person.” As pastoral ministers we witness this dignity and beauty of the human person every time we enter the sickroom of the patient or care for a clinician who is struggling with an ethical dilemma.

Those of us who hold the privilege of being immediately present to the sick, their families and the staff, bring to them the image of Christ the Healer through the faith, the Sacraments and our very presence. In this ministry we also have the privilege of seeing the suffering face of Christ the Patient in all those we serve.

May God continue to bless the Friars, Sisters, Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, and Parish Staff of St. Catherine of Siena Church and Priory as we continue the extraordinary privilege of bringing hope, healing and humor to the lives of all those we serve. Amen

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