Pastoral Care Team

Following the command of Jesus to visit the sick and the imprisoned, the Pastoral Care Team brings church to those who can’t make it to church themselves. Team members visit, bring Communion, and pray for the homebound, hospitalized, and imprisoned members of Saint Barnabas’ church family. The Team also supports and ministers to these members’ families. In addition to the regular rotation of the homebound and imprisoned membership, the team also visits those who, unexpectedly, find themselves in the hospital.

The Pastoral Care Team meets bi-monthly, sharing Communion and sometimes a meal, to discuss how its members are being moved and challenged by the ministry, as well as to support one another. Saint Barnabas’ Priest for Pastoral Care, the Very Rev. John W. Clark, coordinates the Team and serves as its Chaplain. The PCT welcomes anyone who believes they may be called to spend time with individuals and families in pastoral difficulty. Team members should be good listeners and patient ministers, and a special affection for the elderly proves helpful. A vibrant prayer life enhances the ministry with those we visit and sustains us in our work. Every Team member is trained in the parish and certified by the diocesan bishop.

There are currently six members of the Pastoral Care Team. Along with all the parish clergy, two Team members visit homebound parishioners every week, according to a regular rotation. Our goal is to have a lay or ordained minister of the parish visit every hospitalized parishioner every day and to visit every homebound member every week.

For more information on the Pastoral Care Team, contact the Priest for Pastoral care, the Very Rev. John W. Clark: john@saintbarnabas.us, or (337) 984.3848.