Hospital Chaplaincy

Hospital Chaplaincy provides compassionate pastoral care to Catholic patients at 17 hospitals and healthcare facilities throughout the Diocese of Camden. This ministry is one of the many ways the Diocese accompanies its people, offering comfort, prayer, and the healing presence of Christ in times of illness.

Operating under VITALity Catholic Healthcare Services, Hospital Chaplaincy is fully integrated with diocesan healthcare outreach, ensuring patients and families receive both spiritual and practical support when it is most needed and bring the healing hands of Christ present to those in need.

Our Chaplains serve those who are acutely ill and hospitalized in the diocese, offering pastoral visits, sacraments, and spiritual guidance. Each hospital’s pastoral care team includes a priest, deacon, and a woman religious and/or lay minister. Together, 17 Priest Chaplains and Associates provide this vital ministry across South Jersey.

In order to assure that all our parishioners have timely access to pastoral care while hospitalized,  the priest administers the Sick and Sacrament of Penance, while all pastoral care visits offer Holy Communion, prayers and spiritual resources to patients and their families.

What Hospital Chaplains Do

• Work as a team to serve the spiritual needs of patients and families while hospitalized
• Administer (or arrange for) the Sacrament of the Sick
• Conduct pastoral visits for patients, families and hospital staffs
• Coordinate the visits of parish Extraordinary Ministers of the Eucharist
• Educate the faithful on the Sacrament of the Sick—its meaning, timing, and grace
• Communicate with parishes and pastors (with patient permission ) to keep them connected to their community
• Assist patients at discharge by linking them with other VITALity Healthcare Services, easing the transition home and ensuring continued support
• Evaluate and support Catholic presence in long-term care facilities, ensuring residents have access to Mass and prayer services regularly     

Deacon Joseph Janocha serves as the Diocesan Director of Hospital Chaplaincy.  His experience and enthusiasm support the work of these chaplains and provides the day-to-day responsibility and accountability for the coordination and operation of this ministry.

For more information about Hospital Chaplaincy, please contact Deacon Joseph Janocha at 856-583-6130 or joseph.janocha@camdendiocese.org.