The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) has decided that in every diocese and parish, a commission for the sick, handicapped, elderly and dying be set up.
This came to the fore with the establishment of the CBCP Episcopal Commission on Health Care in 1986 and of the Archdiocesan Commission on Health Care in the Archdiocese of Manila in 1993.
In the Archdiocese of Caceres, the Archdiocesan Commission or Ministry for the Sick, Handicapped, Elderly and Dying (AMSHED) was established in 2009 with Fr. Tirso P. Elopre as the first chairperson.
With the definition of its rationale, goals, objectives, together with Scriptural, hagiographical, and juridical bases for this service, the Archdiocese has practically fortified it as a ministry.
Its rationale states that it is the duty of every believer to help those who are suffering both physically and morally. The sick are people who suffer physically or sometimes morally or both. Helping the sick is helping Christ for whatever we do to those who suffer including the sick, we do it to Christ our brother. The ministry for and to the sick in the parish level will surely be enhanced systematically and become efficient if concern and support are pooled together to make this particular ministry effective.
As a voluntary service, the ministry makes reference to the concern of Jesus for the spiritual health of the people as well as for their physical well-being. The Gospels tell of how Jesus went to towns and villages teaching and healing people both physically and spiritually to ease both their physical and mental suffering. Jesus was pediatrician to the daughter of Jairus, ob-gynecologist to the woman with a hemorrhage for 12 years, orthopedic to the paralytic hoisted from the rooftop by 4 friends at Capernaum, ophthalmologist to two blind men at Jericho and to Bartimaeus, ENT specialist to the deaf-mute at the Decapolis, dermatologist to the ten lepers, psychiatrist and exorcist to the two Gadarene demoniacs, brain specialist to the epileptic boy, surgeon at Gethsemane to Malchus, the high priest’s servant whose right ear Peter slashed off, internist to Peter’s mother –in-law, general practitioner to the sick man for 38 years by the Sheep Pool at Bethesda in Jerusalem, therapist to the man with a withered hand, to the cripples and to the deformed including the woman possessed by a spirit which drained her strength for 18 years.
The ministry was exemplified in the life of saints and religious people, like Sts. Cosmas and Damian, physicians, who dedicated their profession for the sick and the poor; St. John of God who started the order of Hospitallers, with special concern for the mentally ill; St. Peregrine who worked for the sick; St. Peter Damien who worked among the lepers in Hawaii; Mother Theresa of Calcutta who worked with the poor and founded the order Missionaries of Charity.
The Ministry assumed a juridical personality when Pope John Paul II established the Pontifical Commission for Health Care Workers in his letter Dolentium Hominum on February 11, 1985 and when the CBCP established the Episcopal Commission on Health Care in 1986.
The general goal of the Ministry is to bring God’s love and all its dimensions through a collaborative effort characterized by Christian spirit of service to all the handicapped, the aged, the sick and the dying with focus on the spiritual-pastoral well being of the recipients
The objectives set are:
For the Recipients and their Health Carers, to instill a better understanding of the meaning of suffering in line with the teaching of St. Paul in Col 1:24 and “Salvifici Doloris” by Pope John Paul II and to provide regular and systematized sacramental and religious services to the recipients like anointing of the sick, confession, holy communion, and other relevant pastoral interventions and referrals;
For the Ministry for the Sick, Handicapped, Elderly and Dying (MSHED), to help in the formation of pastoral health care volunteers in the meaning of suffering, the value of love and the importance of efficient and effective ministry.
The Ministry requires that its members are Roman Catholics fully initiated in the faith, with good moral character, and with willingness and commitment to offer time and share talents for the ministry.
Other requirements: the volunteer , for religious services like giving of Holy Communion, must be a lay minister; for visiting, recruiting, networking-linkaging and reporting purposes, must be capable of surveying recipients, collating data and evaluating and reporting results to the parish level and to the archdiocesan level and must be a volunteer who is a member of a parish group like the Legion of Mary, Our Lady of Lourdes, COM, Neo or any parish religious organization.
In the Archdiocese of Caceres, the Archdiocesan Commission or Ministry for the Sick, Handicapped, Elderly and Dying (AMSHED) was established in 2009 with Fr. Tirso P. Elopre as the first chairperson.
With the definition of its rationale, goals, objectives, together with Scriptural, hagiographical, and juridical bases for this service, the Archdiocese has practically fortified it as a ministry.
Its rationale states that it is the duty of every believer to help those who are suffering both physically and morally. The sick are people who suffer physically or sometimes morally or both. Helping the sick is helping Christ for whatever we do to those who suffer including the sick, we do it to Christ our brother. The ministry for and to the sick in the parish level will surely be enhanced systematically and become efficient if concern and support are pooled together to make this particular ministry effective.
As a voluntary service, the ministry makes reference to the concern of Jesus for the spiritual health of the people as well as for their physical well-being. The Gospels tell of how Jesus went to towns and villages teaching and healing people both physically and spiritually to ease both their physical and mental suffering. Jesus was pediatrician to the daughter of Jairus, ob-gynecologist to the woman with a hemorrhage for 12 years, orthopedic to the paralytic hoisted from the rooftop by 4 friends at Capernaum, ophthalmologist to two blind men at Jericho and to Bartimaeus, ENT specialist to the deaf-mute at the Decapolis, dermatologist to the ten lepers, psychiatrist and exorcist to the two Gadarene demoniacs, brain specialist to the epileptic boy, surgeon at Gethsemane to Malchus, the high priest’s servant whose right ear Peter slashed off, internist to Peter’s mother –in-law, general practitioner to the sick man for 38 years by the Sheep Pool at Bethesda in Jerusalem, therapist to the man with a withered hand, to the cripples and to the deformed including the woman possessed by a spirit which drained her strength for 18 years.
The ministry was exemplified in the life of saints and religious people, like Sts. Cosmas and Damian, physicians, who dedicated their profession for the sick and the poor; St. John of God who started the order of Hospitallers, with special concern for the mentally ill; St. Peregrine who worked for the sick; St. Peter Damien who worked among the lepers in Hawaii; Mother Theresa of Calcutta who worked with the poor and founded the order Missionaries of Charity.
The Ministry assumed a juridical personality when Pope John Paul II established the Pontifical Commission for Health Care Workers in his letter Dolentium Hominum on February 11, 1985 and when the CBCP established the Episcopal Commission on Health Care in 1986.
The general goal of the Ministry is to bring God’s love and all its dimensions through a collaborative effort characterized by Christian spirit of service to all the handicapped, the aged, the sick and the dying with focus on the spiritual-pastoral well being of the recipients
The objectives set are:
For the Recipients and their Health Carers, to instill a better understanding of the meaning of suffering in line with the teaching of St. Paul in Col 1:24 and “Salvifici Doloris” by Pope John Paul II and to provide regular and systematized sacramental and religious services to the recipients like anointing of the sick, confession, holy communion, and other relevant pastoral interventions and referrals;
For the Ministry for the Sick, Handicapped, Elderly and Dying (MSHED), to help in the formation of pastoral health care volunteers in the meaning of suffering, the value of love and the importance of efficient and effective ministry.
The Ministry requires that its members are Roman Catholics fully initiated in the faith, with good moral character, and with willingness and commitment to offer time and share talents for the ministry.
Other requirements: the volunteer , for religious services like giving of Holy Communion, must be a lay minister; for visiting, recruiting, networking-linkaging and reporting purposes, must be capable of surveying recipients, collating data and evaluating and reporting results to the parish level and to the archdiocesan level and must be a volunteer who is a member of a parish group like the Legion of Mary, Our Lady of Lourdes, COM, Neo or any parish religious organization.
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