Samaritans

The Samaritans is a ministry to the ill and the elderly.  Members visit the sick and the homebound, often bringing Bulletins and sometimes other reading material.  Many are Extraordinary Ministers who bring weekly communion, ashes  for Ash Wednesday and palms during Holy Week.  Members are also the planners of some spiritual programs including the Anointing Mass and the Lenten Stations and Soup.


MINISTRY TO THE SICK
To ensure a pastoral visit, please call the Parish Office.  With privacy laws in effect, we are not notified when our parishioners are in the hospital or nursing care facilities unless they request it.  If someone is homebound or hospitalized, please let us know and arrangements will be made for a Priest, Deacon, or Minister of the Eucharist to bring Communion.  A priest will come to administer the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick.  The Sacrament is for the comfort and strength of the ill, and not just for those in immediate danger of death.   It is a help for the living. 

SAMARITAN PRAYER LINE 
The Samaritans of St. Joseph Church has an active telephone prayer line.  We would encourage anyone who knows of someone who is ill or troubled and in the need of prayers to call Ann Brochu at 379-5169 with names.  Please leave a message on the answering machine if she is not at home.  

Stations and Soup
During Lent, a Wednesday Noon program of Stations and Soup is provided in the Parish Center.   It utilizes a video program of Stations with Reflections and Prayers and is followed by a light lunch of soup and bread.  


Cards to the Homebound
Cards are sent to the homebound on Christmas, Easter, The Feast of St. Francis, and Birthdays.