Mission Statement
The Pastoral Care Ministry (PCM) of the Parish fosters to the elderly, sick, disabled, and dying members of the community with dignity and respect, offering compassionate care and encouraging a sense of belonging and connection to the Body of Christ through Eucharist and the people of God.
About Pastoral Care
Pastoral Care brings Church to people. It brings a sense of connection and belonging to the elderly and sick, allowing them to make a meaningful contribution to society. The Pastoral Care Ministry recognizes a direct connection between spirituality and the rest of life. It is concerned with the care of our parishioners in spirit, mind, and body. It affirms the act of mercy dictated by Christ to care for the sick, comfort the dying, and to be a beacon of encouragement, love and support to the parishioners.
Activities
The PCM, a wonderful group of parishioners, offers prayer, guidance, and support to those struggling with physical and emotional needs as well as spiritual ones. It ministers to those who are in crisis, dying, hospitalized, in assisted home care, grieving or needing support for difficult times in their life.
The PCM sponsors the celebration of the Mass for the Sick at least twice a year (a regular schedule is February 9 coinciding with the World Day of the Sick and another is held in the last quarter), offering of prayer requests forwarded to the nuns of Santa Clara, Pink Sisters, and Religious of the Virgin Mary for inclusion in their intercessory prayers, and home/hospital visitations with a priest and an IHMP Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion (EMHC) for healing intervention.
For succeeding Masses for the Sick in the past, Fr Arlo Yap, SVD, in November 2011), Fr. Ferdinand “Soy” Hernando, MB, STL (Founder-Steward, Missionaries of the Beatitudes) and Fr. Laureano “Larry” Faraon (Prelature of Batanes and Radio Veritas) were very accommodating to be priest-presiders. Meanwhile, our Claretian priests like Fr Desiderio “Des” Martin, Fr. Angelito “Lito” Ancla, and Fr. Eduardo “Educ” Apungan, have also been inspirational in celebrating the Mass for the Sick in our Parish. In another occasion, Fr. Fernando Suarez was at the IHMP to preside over a Mass for healing.
Fr. Gerry Orbos, SVD, had been invited to be the priest-presider of the Mass for the Sick in the Parish on September 28, 2016 at 6:00 pm.
Teaching and sharing activities in the form of seminars were also initiated by the PCM. On April 28, 2006, a free seminar on “Pastoral Care for the SADD (Sick, Aged, Disabled, and Dying)” was conducted in coordination with the IHMP Charismatic Community with Fr. Wilfredo “Freddie” Penoliar, OSC, then the Philippine Heart Center Chaplain and Health Care Ministry Coordinator of the Diocese of Cubao, as Resource Person. In another opportunity, the talk on “Caring for the Sick, Aged, Disabled and Dying (SADD)” was held on September 24, 2011 with \Fr. Marcelo “Bong” Pamintuan Jr., another OSC/Ministers of the Infirm (MI) priest, who was then the Hospital Chaplain of the Philippine Heart Center as well as the Executive Secretary, Episcopal Commission on Health Care (ECHC) of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). He touched on topics such as “Elderly: Care for its Spiritual Dimension”, “We Care for the Sick”, “When a Loss Comes” and “Ten Commandments of St. Camillus in Serving the Sick”. The emphasis of the subjects was on spiritual care, counseling, psychotherapy, and education.
Currently, the Acting Head of the Pastoral Care Ministry is Sis. Maria Isabel “Marissa” and ably assisted by her husband, Bro. Renato “Bong” Doctor, an EMHC of the Parish. The leadership of the Ministry was turned over to Sis. Marissa in 2015 after the demise of Bro. Jaime “Jimmy” Opinion who was appointed Ministry Head in 2010. Prior to this, Bro. Noel and Sis. Elena Vergara were the Head-Couple of the PCM.
