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PASTORAL
CARE
When a member of St. Paul's needs support at a time of illness or loss or other difficulty, the clergy are the principal people who visit and support and counsel.
There are also other groups, made up of parishioners, who also deliver help to parishioners in need of a friendly face, a sympathetic ear or some wise counsel.
Among those ministries at St. Paul's are:
Flower Deliverers
Flower deliverers remove the altar flowers on Mondays, rearrange them in containers and then deliver them to sick or homebound parishioners recommended by the clergy. It's fun and it's a rewarding pastoral care ministry, one always in need of more flower arrangers and drivers.
Lay Eucharistic Ministers
These licensed laypeople take communion to members of the parish who are ill or homebound. They are sent out each Sunday with some of the bread and wine consecrated by the celebrant at that day's Eucharist.
Lay Pastoral Teams
To complement Stephen Ministry and expand the parish's capacity for pastoral outreach, teams of lay pastoral care ministers receive training and visit those in the parish who are ill, hospitalized or who simply need a friendly call. Once a month they meet with staff and clergy to review and plan assignments.
Prayer Shawl Ministry
This ministry brings together those who enjoy knitting to make prayer shawls. A simple pattern is provided. As we work, prayers are offered for those who will receive the shawls. On completion, the shawls are blessed. They will be given as a symbol of God's healing presence and as a reminder that the recipient is in our prayers.
Stephen Ministry
Stephen Ministry has been part of our pastoral care ministry since 1998. Stephen Ministers are trained lay people who provide a one-to-one caring ministry to those in our parish who are experiencing a difficult time in their lives.
Stephen Ministers receive 50 hours of training. After commissioning they meet twice a month for peer group supervision and continuing education.
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