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March Events Calendar |
St. Raphael Ministry
Integrating Pastoral Care with Health
and Wellness Services
St. Raphael Ministry is a pastoral care/health and wellness outreach program. It is organized to assist our faith community physically, spiritually, emotionally, psychologically, and socially, and to provide spiritual and health care education, support, direction and guidance.
As health care costs rise, there is an ongoing need for supplemental health education and assistance beyond that which can be received from a physician and health care staff today. St. Raphael Ministry, therefore, has as one objective to assist and serve our parish and the surrounding community at large by offering a variety of pastoral and health support services in addition to promoting health awareness, education and referral services for persons living with chronic health conditions such as diabetes, arthritis, heart disease, and hypertension.
Our ministry also reaches out to the homebound sick, elderly, and dying and their families, offering them our presence and support in varied ways according to the need.
St. Raphael Ministry treats each person with the dignity and respect they deserve as God’s beloved people. Our desire is to reach out to all as Christ would, and to treat and care for the whole person – mind, body, and soul – accompanying the person on their journey towards wholeness.
The various aspects of the St. Raphael Minstry include the following:
- Pastoral care visitations and Communion calls to sick and homebound parishioners
- Visitations and Communion calls to area nursing homes
- Praying the Rosary at nursing care facilities weekly
- Liturgy of the Hours prayer group – meets every Wednesday after the 9:00 AM Mass in the Brent Room
- Bereavement/grief support (by private appointment)
- Spiritual direction/guidance (by private appointment)
- Monthly senior luncheons/socials – on the second Tuesday each month
- Health and wellness (blood pressure monitoring) clinic – Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:00-10:30 AM
- Bi-annual parish health and wellness outreach fairs
- “All Aboard the Senior Brain Train” program – last Tuesday each month, 1:00-3:00 PM in the Brent Room
- “Knitting for the Needy” group – last Thursday each month, 1:00-2:00 PM in the Brent Room
- Private pastoral and health-related consultations (by appointment)
- “On Pilgrimage with the Franciscans” lay associate program – second Wednesday each month following prayer group in the Brent Room
- Free pastoral care information/health education and community resource referral information
- Resource library – pastoral care, health education, medical moral and bioethics topics, advance directives and living wills
- Private counseling/guidance with end-of-life issues
- Information on veterans’ benefits
- The “Lending Shed” – medical and nursing home health equipment for those in need
- Monthly newsletter
For more information, please contact:
Sr. Mary Lou Anthony, fmij
RN, BSN, MA, FCN
Pastoral Care/Health and Wellness Coordinator
"Member of the Catholic Medical Association"
(540) 657-6986 [office]
Raphaelmin2002@yahoo.com
About Sr. Mary Lou:
Sr. Mary Lou holds a Master of Arts degree in Catholic Moral Theology from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Overbrook, PA. She also holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing from Monmouth University, Long Branch, NJ, as well as certifications in Geriatric Healthcare, Parish Nursing, and Religious Formation and Spiritual Guidance from the Pontificio Regina Mundi Institute, Rome, Italy. Her professional memberships include the American Nurses Association, the National Association of Catholic Chaplains, and the Association of Christian Therapists. Sr. Mary Lou is academically prepared as a Formator in Initial Formation for her Religious Community.
