Eucharistic Ministry at Santa Cruz CA Hospital
Parish Members Offer Daily Holy Communion to Catholic Patients
Nov 13, 2009
According to Sister Veronica Kelley, Chaplain Services administrator at Dominican Hospital of Santa Cruz, priests were the only ones who ministered Communion in the early days. Later Catholic Sisters took on the responsibility. In the mid 1970s, the community eucharistic ministry program began. Sister Veronica trains and oversees up to 35 volunteers covering the campuses at both the hospital and rehabilitation center.
Jean Dunn of Capitola has been a volunteer since the beginning of the program. She says that early on, when entering a room to ask if the patient wanted to receive communion, the answer would often be, “Yes, when is the priest coming?”
She relates this experience: “I went into the room of a new mother and baby. The whole family was there and asked me if I would go out of the room and come back in again. I soon discovered the reason. They wanted to videotape the whole occasion!”
How to Become a Eucharistic Minister at Dominican Hospital of Santa Cruz
After applying with Volunteer Services department, candidates study materials detailing strict hospital health and safety issues. A background check is required and the importance of confidentiality is stressed. TB tests are repeated each year. Eucharistic ministers are assigned a photo I.D. badge but are not required to wear uniforms.
More Comments From Santa Cruz Volunteers in Chaplain Services Program
Sister Marie Wiedner, now deceased, reported this story: “I went into the room of an elderly Hispanic woman and told her granddaughter that I was offering Communion. She asked her grandmother in Spanish if she would like to receive, then said the woman claimed she hadn’t been to confession. I told her to ask her grandmother if she had done anything seriously wrong. The grandmother responded: ‘I haven't murdered anybody and I haven't been partying around either.’ ”
Minister Chris Johnson
“When we see suffering, it makes us feel fortunate to be in good health. I visited a woman who was very down-hearted because she was moving to a convalescent hospital. After praying with her, I discovered she was from the church I once belonged to, so I talked with her about the pastor, Fr. Matt. Right away her spirit lifted and she too began telling stories about Father Matt.
Minister Joan Lundell
Lundell, a certified hospital chaplain, visits patients at the Rehabilitation Division where some people are living their last days. She feels a special calling to do this work.
On her first day, she was asked to visit a dying man who had no religion and had never received visitors. She spent time praying with him and was the last person he saw. “I said the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy and know the Lord sent me there on that day for a reason.” He died before she left the hospital.
Catholic Patients Grateful to Receive Holy Eucharist
Beneficiaries of this ministry feel it is a gift to be served Communion and so reassuring to see a friendly face. Patient Mary Vaage says, “To be given the Eucharist while in the hospital helped provide continuity to my own daily spiritual life.”
The ministry provides rewards to all. For information about hospital chaplain services call the local Catholic hospital.
Related article What is Holy Communion? by Stephanie Jean
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