Pastoral Care

Clinical Pastoral Education Program

The Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) Program trains clergy, members of religious orders and laity of all faiths for work in pastoral care. Patients will be visited by one of the chaplain interns during their stay in the hospital. The goals of the Clinical Pastoral Education program are:

• to offer services to patients, their families and friends, hospital staff members and the local community through pastoral ministry;
• through an action-reflection model, to help the chaplain intern deepen a sense of his or her personal and professional identity; and
• to gain experience working in an interdisciplinary team relationship.

The CPE program is conducted 48 weeks of the year. It is divided into four full-time units known as Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer. There is an extended unit that meets over the course of two full-time units. Some of the chaplain interns are in the program from Fall to Spring, while others are here for one or two units. Academic credits for these units are offered through Andover Newton Theological School. Most of the chaplain interns in the program already have an advanced graduate degree and use our program for continuing education and preparation for certification in chaplaincy. The program is accredited by the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education.

Spiritual Services

The Department of Spiritual Care Services is a major component in the holistic healing process that is offered at Caritas Holy Family Hospital and Medical Center. We seek to assist all who come here in the recovery and the maintenance of health, as well as spiritual well-being. Our goal is to serve the spiritual needs of all patients and to extend this service to staff members and their families.

Services

We offer the following:

• Sacramental ministry, together with prayer and pastoral presence;
• Pastoral visiting conducted by members of the department on a daily basis;
• Clinical Pastoral Education (link), a program that offers clergy, members of religious orders and other interested persons an educational experience of ministry within a clinical setting;
• Contractual agreement with Northeast Rehabilitation Hospital in Salem, N.H., to provide pastoral services to patients and families, provide community outreach, and to serve as a CPE preceptor for students assigned from the Caritas Holy Family CPE program;
• Ministry seminar, an annual interdisciplinary seminar in the fall for clergy, nurses, social workers and other professionals on a current topic.

Sacramental ministry will include:

• Sacrament of the Sick (anointing of the sick is available for elderly patients, those who are critically ill, and others who wish to receive this sacrament)
• Sacrament of the Eucharist (Holy Communion is distributed regularly)
• Sacrament of Reconciliation
• Sacrament of Baptism (administered in emergencies).

Pastoral Visiting

Members of the Spiritual Care Services team visit patients and their families on a daily basis. Special ministry and support are offered to those in the hospital who are dying, as well as to their families and the hospital staff caring for them. Counseling and prayer are also available for staff members and their families in times of need.

Liturgical Services

Liturgical services are televised on hospital channel 24 Monday through Friday at noon, Saturday at 4 p.m. and Sunday at 8:30 a.m.
Memorial Mass is celebrated on the second Sunday of each month at 8:30 a.m. for the patients who died in the hospital during the previous month.
The Department of Spiritual Care Services will contact a pastor, a rabbi or a spiritual leader upon request.

Pastoral Counseling Services

Pastoral counseling is a mental health discipline that provides a unique opportunity to integrate the spiritual and psychological into an effective psychotherapeutic process. Individual, marital and family pastoral counseling services are offered to members of the hospital staff and, on a limited basis, to members of the local community.

For more information, please call Spiritual Care Services at (978) 687-0156, extension 2005