This will include the pastoral care of the homebound, those in the hospital and hospice care, and the need for a follow up ministry to those who have recently been discharged from the hospital. During the February and April meetings of the Presbyteral Council, the primary priest advisory body to Bishop Barnes, he shared his concern for sick and dying brothers and sisters in the Diocese, asking that a strategic pastoral care plan be developed for this ministry. The members of the Presbyteral Council strongly supported this call and pastoral initiative.
The goal of a strategic pastoral plan is to map out how Catholic patients (homebound, on hospital admission, in hospice care, in convalescent homes) will receive prompt and needed pastoral care from the priests, deacons and those lay ministers involved in this important ministry. The Diocese seeks a program that will bring together the Priests, Deacons, Men and Women Religious, and the laity to become involved in the ministry to the sick and dying.
A Task Force has been set up by Bishop Barnes to help review the current challenges and opportunities in regard to pastoral care for the sick and dying in the Diocese, determine best practices, and make recommendations to the Bishop.
The activities of the Task Force will include identifying standards for the pastoral care ministry, developing an educational program for periodic training of new pastoral care ministers in parishes, planning Diocesan days of reflection for parish ministers, and working with the Diocesan Office of Worship to provide formation opportunities for Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion to the sick and homebound.
The members of the Task Force are taken from various ministries and healthcare institutions in the Diocese. They are:
Msgr. Gerard M. Lopez, Vicar General of the Diocese; Rev. Erik Esparza, JCL, Associate Director, Office of Priest Personnel; Rev. Javier Gonzalez, Member, Presbyteral Council; Rev. Donald Craig, Director Chaplaincy Services, Eisenhower Medical Center, Palm Desert; Deacon John Barna, Director, Office of Catholic Cemetery; Sr. Chilee Okoko, DMMM, Director, Department of Life, Dignity and Justice; Dr. Juanito Garlitos, MD, Retired, Kaiser Permanente; Kathy Benjamin, RN, BSN, PHN, Director Quality and Performance Improvement, Kaiser Fontana and Ontario Medical Centers.
Linda McDonald, Vice President Mission Services, St. Bernardine Medical Center and Community Hospital of San Bernardino; Jessie Cristobal, RN, Member, Diocesan Health and Parish Health Ministry Committees; Judy Wagner, Vice President Mission Integration, St. Joseph Health, St. Mary Medical Center, Apple Valley; John Perring-Mulligan, Retired, Vice President of Mission Integration, St. Mary’s Health; Ed Gerber, Director, Lestonnac Free Clinics; Robert Doering, Director, Mission Services, St. Mary’s Medical Center, Apple Valley.
Sr. Chilee Okoko, DMMM, is the Director of the Department of Life, Dignity and Justice for the Diocese of San Bernardino and a licensed physician.