To request a visit for someone who is sick or dying, please contact the Hospital Chaplain at (250) 889-3761

Through our Pastoral Care Ministry, volunteers visit the lonely, homebound, sick, injured, elderly, and dying, in hospitals, extended health care facilities, or at home. Lay pastoral care visitors can assist their pastors by helping to share Christ’s healing love and compassion with those in need—in their rawness and vulnerability—by offering friendship, encouragement, the ministry of presence, and, when requested, prayer, and Holy Communion.

To request assistance from a Pastoral Care Ministry volunteer, please contact your local parish office.

Pastoral Care Training sessions are now offered on-line.  For several years the Diocese presented on-site training sessions for Pastoral Care Ministry volunteers who wish to visit the lonely, homebound, sick, injured, elderly, and dying, in hospitals, extended health care facilities, or at home. With the opportunity to train more Lay Pastoral Care visitors to help share the message of Christ’s healing love and compassion with those in need,  the training sessions are now available on Zoom.

Sessions are offered on Saturday mornings from 9:30 am - noon.  The next session is scheduled for

  • January 20 – March 23, 2024 (with a break on March 9 for spring break)
Contact your local parish office to register.  For more information, please contact the coordinator at moiraking@shaw.ca.

 

WHAT IS 'PASTORAL CARE'?  

Pastoral Care communicates Christ’s healing love and compassion to all, especially those who suffer in body, mind, or spirit. “I was sick, and you visited me.” (Matthew 25:36). In each of the Gospels the healing ministry of Christ clearly illustrates compassion for those who are suffering and in need of the healing touch of Jesus, whether they are in hospitals, health care residences, or homebound. We also mirror social justice core values by offering human dignity, care for the poor, service, integrity, and by giving those we visit an experience that will strengthen their confidence in life and give them a reason to hope.

Lay pastoral care visitors can assist their pastors by helping to share Christ’s healing love and compassion with those in need—in their rawness and vulnerability—by offering friendship, encouragement, the ministry of presence, and, when requested, prayer, and Holy Communion.

May we allow ourselves to be surprised by God’s grace, especially when we visit the sick, the injured, and those who are facing death.

WHOM DO WE VISIT?  

Pastoral Care Outreach volunteers visit the lonely, homebound, sick, injured, elderly, and dying, in hospitals, extended health care facilities, or at home.

To request assistance from a Pastoral Care Ministry volunteer, please contact your parish office.

 

HOSPITAL CHAPLAINCY  

The Diocese of Victoria, through its Hospital Chaplain, provides pastoral, spiritual and sacramental care to the Victoria General and Royal Jubilee Hospitals, as well as to those in the acute care hospitals located in Victoria.

The Hospital Chaplain is available at (250) 889-3761.

For hospital  visits outside of Greater Victoria, please contact the local parish.

Moira King
Chair
Diocesan Health Care Committee

moiraking@shaw.ca

Fr. Sean Flynn
Hospital Chaplain

(250) 889-3761