Pastoral Care at Mount St. Joseph

In its Mission Statement, Mount St. Joseph identifies itself as a “holistic care community” providing a climate wherein the total person – body, mind and spirit – is cared for. The role of the Pastoral Care Department is to provide that part of the total care that deals with the spiritual, and at times the emotional, needs of the residents.

Three Chaplains make up the Pastoral Care Department. Each is assigned to particular units in order to provide continuity of presence for the residents and their families.

When someone becomes a resident of a long-term care facility such as Mount St. Joseph, she or he is removed from familiar surroundings where they were known and addressed as wife, husband, mother, father, sister, brother, or grandparent. These familiar roles soon change in their new environment and this can be distressing. Issues surrounding life and death, meaning and purpose, loneliness and loss, not only arise at this time but also are often magnified in an institutional setting.

The role of the Chaplain is to encourage each resident to talk about family, friends, hopes, fears, disappointments, and gradually help each one adjust to his or her new surroundings and status. In listening to their concerns, the Chaplains help the residents find meaning and purpose in their present situation and help them discover within themselves a source of peace, courage, and faith.

Residents often become separated from their faith community and familiar rituals that nourished them spiritually. Mount St. Joseph offers a variety of spiritual activities and encourages residents to participate in those services founded on their religious beliefs.

These include:

· Daily Catholic Mass

· Daily Communion for residents unable to attend Mass

· Weekly Protestant Worship Service

· Weekly informal Faith Group

· Seasonal Interfaith Services

· Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick (November)

· Annual Memorial Service commemorating our deceased residents (May).

Chaplains visit the residents on a regular basis providing on-going spiritual support to those desiring it and respond to their spiritual needs in a manner consistent with their religious tradition. Residents are encouraged to request visits from their minister, priest, or rabbi.

Chaplains also offer support to family members and friends of residents as they express the burdens and heartaches that surface when their loved one experiences advanced age, chronic illness, and death.

The Mission of Mount St. Joseph is based on the belief that caring for the sick and dying is a visible continuation of Christ’s healing mission. It is within this Christian tradition that the Pastoral Care Department of Mount St. Joseph attends to the spiritual needs of the residents. We do this not by bringing God to the people we visit, but by helping each one discover God who lives hidden within the mystery of each person and in each event of life.

Steve Kramer is an ordained Deacon in the Roman Catholic Church. He was ordained on May 21, 1994 by Bishop John McGann in Rockville Centre New York. Since his move to Maine, Steve serves the parishes of Notre Dame de Lourdes in Skowhegan, St. Sebastian in Madison and St. Peter’s in Bingham.

Steve received his Bachelors degree from Dowling College, Oakdale, New York. He then spent six years in preparation for ordination at the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington, New York where he also earned a Masters degree in Theology. Eventually, Steve returned to Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, Massachusetts where he received a Doctorate in Preaching/Communication.

As Director of Pastoral Care for Mount St Joseph, Steve coordinates with Chaplains Bob Edgarton and Martha Gagliardi, to ensure that all staff, residents and their families receive whatever spiritual care and guidance is required. The three of them attend meetings, funerals, wake services, and visit Mount St. Joseph residents.

Chaplain Martha Gagliardi received her undergraduate degree at Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, CT. and her Master of Divinity degree from the Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Ma. She concentrates her time with the Friendship Community, where she is known for both her wit in meetings and as she makes rounds, and her solemn moments of prayer at residents bedsides. Martha normally works Monday through Thursday.

Chaplain Bob Edgarton leads Protestant worship here at the Mount, and serves as Pastor to the Weld Congregational Church, United Church of Christ. He works primarily with the Memory Lane and Mountain Top communities, but also co-leads a Bible study group and serves on the Safety Committee. Bob earned a bachelor’s degree from Saint Joseph’s College of Maine, and a Master of Divinity from Bangor Theological Seminary. Bob is normally available Tuesday through Friday.