If you are in need of an emergency anointing of the sick, please contact the parish office, even after hours. Follow the prompts on the answering machine and you will be connected to the our parishes.
VISITS TO THE SICK
Because of changes in hospital admitting policies, it is necessary to inform the Parish Office when hospitalized parishioners would like a visit from a priest or deacon.
WHO MAY RECEIVE?
In the Catholic Church, Extreme Unction or the Last Rites is the anointing at the time of death. Since the Second Vatican Council, this sacrament is now called the Anointing of the Sick and has been broadened to offer healing and comfort in times of illness that may not lead to immediate death. Speaking about a wider implementation of this sacrament, Pope Paul VI advocated for “a wider availability of the sacrament and to extend it—within reasonable limits—even beyond cases of mortal illness."
Unlike the traditional understanding of the Last Rites, the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick is, ideally, to be administered in a communal celebration.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that when the sick are anointed they should be "assisted by their pastor and the whole ecclesial community, which is invited to surround the sick in a special way through their prayers and fraternal attention" . "Like all the sacraments the Anointing of the Sick is a liturgical and communal celebration…It is very fitting to celebrate it within the Eucharist".
DON'T WAIT!
The Anointing of the Sick is not merely a sacrament for the dying and the term “Last Rites” is no longer used in the liturgical texts and ritual books to punctuate that reality of the sacrament. However, the spirit of the request is understood: the priest is being called to prepare a person for death – a request we are happy to honor.
The end of life is a challenging time for everyone involved and often marked by some anxiety, hesitancy, and grief. However, it is very important for many reasons that families encounter the reality of death and dying honestly.
Death is a reality for us all and, while it may seem easier to “hope against hope” that things may get better, there comes a point when these hopes no longer correspond to reality and preparations should be made. Avoid the temptation to delay these preparations as a palliative measure for yourself – it only causes more difficulty down the road.
Part of these preparations is calling the parish priest. Please, do not wait until the very last moment to call us. There are a great many factors that could cause delay in our arrival (though we avoid those things at great cost). The sacraments are for the living and, while prayers after death are meritorious and we are happy to offer them, there is no perfect substitute for the sacraments. We recommend calling us immediately upon a person’s entry into hospice/end-of-life comfort care, even if death is weeks away.
In traumatic emergencies, such as vehicle accidents or other emergency medical issues, you may call the parish or request a priest from the hospital chaplain – every hospital has a list of priests they can call and will arrive shortly.