ARTICLES

Workers of Mercy

A Corps of Laymen Assists Hospital Chaplain

BY STANFORD ESPEDAL

When a Catholic is hospitalized, he or she can rest assured that they will have opportunity to receive the sacraments of Reconciliation, Holy Communion, and Anointing of the Sick, together with prayer and spiritual counsel because of a corps of hospital chaplains whom the bishop has appointed. Assisting the priest-chaplains in their work for the sick is a group of lay volunteers: extraordinary ministers of Communion who distribute the sacrament, make initial visits, pray with patients, and gather information preparatory to the priest's visit.

Father Thomas Thompson is the Catholic chaplain at Scripps Green, Scripps Memorial, and UCSD Medical Center hospitals. He has been assigned to Scripps Memorial and UCSD since 1997, when he began part time while serving as associate pastor at All Hallows in La Jolla. After four years, in 2001, Bishop Brom assigned him to full-time hospital chaplaincy, and he took on the additional work at Scripps Green in La Jolla.

Fr. Thomas is a native of Kosck, in the southeast corner of Poland near the border with Ukraine. He speaks with a strong Polish accent, but his English is excellent. He is the youngest of five brothers; the others are married laymen. For six years he attended the Catholic University in Lublin, the only Catholic university in Eastern Europe that the communists allowed to exist. He said of his preparation for priesthood, "As the youngest of five brothers it was easy for me to go to seminary and enter the priesthood because my older brothers were already educated, married, and had positions, so the family was secure. This was in communist times. If I had been the oldest brother and gone to seminary, my younger brothers would have had a very hard time getting education and jobs."

His professor of moral theology was Archbishop Karol Wojtyla, the future Pope John Paul II.

Following his ordination in 1982 he was a parish pastor in Starre Zamosc, Poland for two years. Then with the permission of his bishop and Poland's primate, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski, he came to minister to Polish people at Saint Hyacinth parish in Chicago. In this parish of ten thousand members he got his start in ministry to the sick. From Chicago he came to San Diego to work with the Polish community here. Then he was transferred to Resurrection in Escondido for five years, from 1990-95. "While I was there, the pastor saw immediately that I was good with sick people. As pastor he was too busy to visit them, but I enjoyed doing it, so he assigned me to work in all the hospitals and nursing homes in the area."

Father Thomas continued, "That is how the Good Lord was preparing me to be a full time hospital chaplain. This work is really my vocation; it's what I love to do. I would not want to have the administration of a parish. I am very grateful to Bishop Brom for placing me in this chaplaincy."

Asked to describe his daily routine, Father Thomas answers, "I am in one of the hospitals from 9:00 a.m. till 7:00 p.m. When I see a patient," he explained, "they have usually been visited already by an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion. Every Catholic has the opportunity to receive Holy Communion. At the time they visit, the ministers make notes: So-and-so would like to have confession; so-and-so would like to have counsel, so-and-so is depressed, etc. This is extremely important for me. Then I can give priority to those who want to see me and are waiting for me. I want to see everyone at least twice; soon after they are admitted and again during their stay. Since there is an average of one hundred Catholics per hospital and their stay is often short, I have to move very fast to do that.

"I love what I do here," he says. "I can concentrate entirely on ministry to sick people. I am free to deal only with my people's spiritual needs; and that freedom is thanks to administrative help from people like Betsy."

Betsy Penberth is the manager of volunteer services at Scripps Green. She has been with Scripps for 25 years. "I started out in human resources. Fifteen years ago an interim position became available in volunteer services and I took it. I love what I do; working with all the volunteers and every area of hospital administration — our work touches every aspect and department of the facility."

She adds, "Don't tell the others this, but Father Thomas and his assistants are my favorites. But everyone involved in the spiritual care ministry is wonderful."

I asked Betsy exactly what she does to facilitate Father Thomas' work. "Well, to begin, there is the schedule," she answered. "Then, since the volunteers are working in a hospital they have to have TB tests every year so I make sure those are done. I keep track of their initial training and orientation, and their continuing education in fire safety and infection control — that sort of thing; I make sure they sign in and out; I keep records of all who are here at any given time; oversee the insurance for the volunteers — they are covered by our insurance while they are here; I do all those things which would be a burden to Father."

Father Thomas: "When I first started working at Scripps Memorial and UCSD, reaching and ministering to an average of three hundred Catholic patients was just too much,' Father explains, "especially on Sundays when everyone wants to receive Holy Communion. I was assistant pastor at All Hallows in La Jolla, and I began to approach people for help individually. That's how this spiritual care volunteer program began."

He reached out for help at Saint James in Solana Beach and Saint Therese of Carmel (formerly known as Saint William of York) as well. Today, volunteers from these three parishes make initial contact with patients and administer Holy Communion seven days a week. At Scripps Green, volunteers from All Hallows take Sundays; Saint James people go in on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays; while Saint Therese parishioners supply the help on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Father Thomas continually seeks out and welcomes new spiritual care volunteers, but they have to be thoroughly qualified. "First, they have to be strong Catholics. I don't like the terms 'conservative' and 'liberal;' I prefer to speak of 'strong Catholics.' They must be dedicated members of their own parish and have approval from their pastor. They must want to serve the sick. They must be certified as extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion in their parish. Then they go through the half-day training offered by the hospital and receive clearance, and finally I give them additional training on reverence and respect for the Holy Eucharist and how to go about their routine."

Ray Green is one of Father Thomas' recruits; a Saint James parish member who serves at Scripps Green each Wednesday and Saturday. Ray is a native of Leeds, England. (He's no relation to Dr. Cecil Green, for whom the hospital is named, but they hail from the same place). He came to the States when he was 21, in 1951. "I had just gotten out of the British Army, came here, and the Korean War was going on, so I joined the Marine Corps. I was stationed at Camp Pendleton. When I got out I met my wife-to-be and we were married in '57. That was when I became Catholic. We had five children along the way. I've been a member at Saint James in Solana Beach for the last forty five years."

"I came into this hospital," he continues, "as a patient about three years ago. I was going in for a triple bypass, and the monsignor from our church was giving the doctors a blessing before the surgery. While they were talking I prayed, 'Lord Jesus, after your temptation in the wilderness the angels came and ministered to you; I ask you, let the angels come and minister to me also.' During the operation — I know they say you can't see or hear anything — but I was in a huge cathedral that was decked out in green and red, and angels were dancing; they were all over the place. When I woke up I could not believe what I had seen. In this hospital Christ himself came to me that day. From that day I wanted to work here as a volunteer, and fell into it when I met Father Thomas while visiting one of our sick parishioners. He invited me, and I've been a spiritual care volunteer for going on three years."

Green's routine: "I pick up the Eucharist at Saint James church at 6:00 a.m. — I have a key — and I come here before surgeries begin at 7:00 to give Holy Communion to patients going in for an operation. I'm there to be with them and pray with them, and I take their names and faces home with me to keep praying for them. It's a beautiful experience because it brings you into a completely different world. When I sign in, I pick up my list and go to work. Let's say I go to see 'Mrs. Brown.' So I put on an Irish accent and say to her with a big smile, 'Is Mrs. Brown home today?' And she says, 'Oh, come in Father!' And I say 'I'm not the priest — I'm the Eucharistic minister.' And then we get into a personal talk that helps to alleviate their fears and worries. I ask what we can pray for; can we pray for your sickness; or for your loved ones? I believe if you pray for others, you will get it back tenfold. And so I also urge them to pray for others in need since that will be a blessing to them, and get their mind off themselves. Then I give a blessing with holy water and give them communion. I also always assure them that I'll be back. And if they want, I'll give them my number to call me at home or on my cell phone. I let them know they are on my mind, and I will always have time for them. And that's my day. It's a spiritual work we do here, I tell you!"

"Have you seen miracles," I ask?

"If I had half a day, I could tell you of many," he said. "I'll tell you about one: I went to visit a woman named Elizabeth for seven days, and on the seventh day she was out like a light. She didn't know I was there. But I prayed, and then said to her, 'Elizabeth, my three friends are with me today. The Magi, the Three Kings are visiting from the East. They're coming here to stay with you. I'm going to leave the Three Kings with you and they will take care of you, and you will be at peace with yourself.' In a week she regained consciousness, and when I visited again and saw her sitting up in bed I cried out 'Elizabeth!' 'Elizabeth!' And she cried out, 'Ray! I saw the Three Kings!'" Ray added, "What we can do for each other is so wonderful!"

Yesmin Saide, a woman of Lebanese heritage and an All Hallows parish member, works full time as a federal prosecutor. Yet she finds time to serve at Scripps Memorial every Tuesday evening. She entered the spiritual care ministry in response to personal tragedy. "My husband, John Roncatto, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in October of 2000. He passed away in May, 2002. During the process of his illness we grew very close to Father Thomas. We also received a lot of prayer and ministry from other Eucharistic ministers, and we both found that to provide an amazing amount of support. John began serving the sick before he died, going to hospitals and homes with his Bible and holy water, and pray with them. We vowed that if he recovered, we would get trained and take up the work of spiritual care ministry as a couple because it was so important to us. So after he died I kept my promise, became a volunteer at Scripps Hospital in July; then got qualified as an extraordinary minister of communion, did my hospital training, and started my rotation in October 2002.

"I usually arrive between 5:30 and 6:00 p.m. and I'm there for an hour and a half to two hours. I get my list ... and I see a combination of surgical patients, and very sick elderly patients. I take a prayer book for the sick, my communion kit, and bulletins from All Hallows. After checking in at the nurses' station to see who on my list is physically able to receive communion, I go in, introduce myself, and offer them prayer and Communion. Depending on what they want I will either pray with them and talk to them, or use an abbreviated liturgy of the Word before giving communion. Some refuse either one, and then I just wish them well, and leave."

Over lunch with Father Thomas I asked, "What is the key to fulfilling this ministry?

"Do not worry about yourself!" he answered. "Think about others and their needs; what they are expecting. They want Jesus. Sometimes people say to me, 'Father, you are going to the hospital every day; it must be difficult for you!' And I say 'Not at all.' I am not bringing any of my own wisdom. I say, 'I am Father Thomas. I want to pray with you. I want to absolve you. I want you to be reconciled to the Lord. This is a work of evangelization. I speak those simple words, and they are not my words; it is the message of Jesus: 'My peace I give to you.' This is the key to all we do."

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