Hospital chaplaincy provides pastoral care to Catholic patients at 18 hospitals and healthcare facilities throughout our diocese. The pastoral care team for each hospital consists of a priest with a deacon, a woman religious and/or a lay minister. Their ministry includes the priest administering the Sacrament of the Sick and Sacrament of Penance, while all pastoral care visits offer Holy Communion, prayers and spiritual resources to patients and their families.
In addition, 235 Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion support the chaplains in their pastoral care. This year has presented many challenges to providing direct in-room pastoral care due to the strict visitation protocols.
For more information, contact:
Deacon Mike Bortnowski
Director of Hospital Chaplaincy
(856) 583-6130
In 2021, our chaplaincy teams continued ministering in the challenging situation of life during the COVID-19 pandemic, finding new ways to bring Sacramental Ministry as well as prayer, comfort, assistance, and solidary to the sick. Amidst these challenges and with adequate personal protective equipment, our team visited the sick and gave Holy Communion to an average of over 1,300 patients and staff each month. Our Priest Chaplains were able to administer the Sacrament of the Sick to over 3,700 persons in need. These statistics show the ongoing commitment of our chaplains and volunteers to our sick and suffering brothers and sisters.
Here are some of the creative ways that our chaplaincy team has been ministering to patients during these challenging times:
Testimony from a patient
“I was a patient at Inspira Medical Center in Woodbury in September for a week. Each day a Minister of the Eucharist came to bring me Holy Communion. What a blessed ministry you afford your Catholic patients. Receiving Jesus each day was the highlight of my hospital stay and I would be remiss if I did not write to thank the volunteers who made this possible. Quite frankly I was amazed this program is in place and works so well.
I met one of your associate chaplains, Nancy from Holy Family Parish, and she even arranged for your Chaplain to offer me the Sacrament of the Sick…. Nancy also brought me a prayer shawl hand made by members of a local parish. UNBELIEVABLE KINDNESS!!
Be assured that I will remember the Vitality Ministry, all its good works, and your volunteers in my daily prayers.”
Testimony from an Extraordinary Minister of the Holy Communion
“I have been blessed to be given the opportunity to bring the Holy Eucharist to the Catholic patients, their visitors and the staff who wish to receive. I meet people where they are in their hospital stay and sometimes in their faith journeys…. Sometimes a patient wants to pray and sometimes I just sit with them and share conversation. I sometimes sense that I may be the only non-professional visitor that might be part of their day…. Experiencing these grace-filled days as the “hands and feet of Jesus” is both humbling and rewarding. I try to remember that it is not what I do, but how I do it, always with love and compassion.”
As the Diocese of Camden implements a more comprehensive approach in its ministry to the sick and disabled, the Hospital Chaplaincy Program has grown to better meet the needs of those parishioners finding themselves hospitalized throughout South Jersey.
Hospital chaplains provide a wonderful ministerial outreach to those who are acutely ill and are inpatients in the many hospitals here in the diocese. This valuable ministry is just one of the many ways that the Diocese of Camden cares for its people. The new approach ensures the fullest availability to our parishioners and provides the best use of experienced priests and deacons for this most important pastoral work.
Under the auspices of Vitality Catholic Healthcare Services, Hospital Chaplaincy will be linked with the totality of healthcare services and play a vital role in outreach efforts to bring the healing hands of Christ present to those in need.
Deacon Mike Bortnowski serves as the Diocesan Director of Hospital Chaplaincy. His experience and enthusiasm supports the work of these chaplains and provides the day to day responsibility and accountability for the coordination and operation of this ministry.
In order to assure that all our parishioners have timely access to pastoral care while hospitalized in these times of often very short stays, the Diocesan Chaplaincy Program partners a priest chaplain with a deacon or lay minister to serve as an associate chaplain, along with women religious pastoral associates. The diocese has created six “hospital clusters,” arranged by their geographic proximity and size. A chaplaincy team is assigned to each cluster and works with the local surrounding parishes to recruit volunteer Eucharistic Ministers who assist them in bringing Holy Communion to our Catholic parishioners.
These chaplains are well experienced in this ministry and work together as a team to serve our parishioners’ needs while hospitalized. They administer (or arrange for the administration of) the Sacrament of the Sick, conduct pastoral visits for patients, families and hospital staffs, help coordinate the visits of parish Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist and assist in a diocesan-wide effort to better inform and teach our Catholic faithful about the Sacrament of the Sick and its most practical application, effects and timing. We need to catechize our Catholic parishioners about this Sacrament of Healing and its positive effects, and dispel old thinking of it as only the Sacrament of the Dying (Extreme Unction).
In addition, the associate chaplains will assist in the communication to the local parishes and pastors, informing them of parishioners who are hospitalized (with the permission of the patient) and will assist patients being discharged to link into the other health-related services that the diocese is offering within Vitality Catholic Healthcare Services. This eases the transition home and facilitates other outreach efforts of the parish to connect with its members who are ill and/or recovering from sickness. They also take on the responsibility to review and evaluate our Catholic presence in the many long term care facilities in the region to assure that our Catholic parishioners residing there remain connected to their local parish through Mass and prayer services being offered on a regular basis.
Written by: Deacon Jerry Jablonowski, Executive Director of VITALity Catholic Healthcare Services, in the Diocese of Camden