Pastoral Care Commission

The Pastoral Care Commission promotes the health of the parish by ministering to the community in times of physical, emotional and spiritual stress, in the caring compassionate manner of Christ. St. Ann's offers a variety of ministries to help you cope in difficult and demanding times.

The ministries that fall under this commission are:

• Loss & Re-Membering is a 6-week grief seminar which provides peer support with trained facilitators for people who have lost a loved one. Participants have the opportunity to share their thoughts and feelings in an environment of understanding and empathy. 
  Contact the Parish Office if you are interested.

• Dial a Smile 

• Funeral Receptions - St. Ann's Bereavement/Funeral Receptions Ministry. Sponsored by St. Ann's CCW, and everyone is invited to help. We need parish wide help from anyone who can help with funeral receptions by providing food donations such as, salads, desserts or other treats,
  on a rotation basis. If you are able to help, please contact Gail at (386) 775-4022.

• Ministry to the Sick/Homebound - Extraordinary Ministers of Communion (MTS) who serve the Body of Christ to the sick and homebound.
  Call the Parish Office if you are baptized Catholic and are homebound and need communion brought to your home in the Orange City/DeBary area only. 

• Health Ministry - The Health Ministry hours are held on the second Monday and fourth Thursday of the month from 8:30am until 10:30am. For consultation call the Parish Office to schedule an appointment with the Parish Nurse. Home visits can be arranged for the Parish Nurse to assess and monitor the health and wellbeing of the church community on an as needed basis. Parish Nurses are available to meet patients at their doctor's office to offer support, listen and interpret instructions.

• Prayer Shawl Ministry is an ongoing program that invites the church community to knit or crochet shawls to be blessed and then delivered to the ill and the homebound. St. Ann's Health Ministry is open to all health care professionals in the parish as a way to share their experience and expertise with others. 

The Parish Nurse Ministry Focuses on the well-being of the body, mind and spirit of our community in a variety of ways. We are constantly reminded, though, that our most effective instrument is prayer. With that in mind, the Prayer Shawl Ministry invites people to knit or crochet in prayer as they make these shawls for our parishioners. As each one is created, prayers are being said for the recipient by its crafter.

These shawls are then blessed by the priest, placed in a gift bag with a rosary and prayer card in the pocket. Shawls are distributed free of charge to St. Ann's parishioners who are home-bound, in the hospital or nursing home, or undergoing other personal trials (chemotherapy, etc.). Shawls can also be given to family members/friends who are not St. Ann's parishioners, but we do request a donation for yarn when possible.

More than 250 people who were hospitalized or confined to their homes have received shawls distributed by the Ministers of the Sick and the Health Ministry. The recipients tell us that when they put on their shawl, they feel wrapped in God's love.

The prayer shawls are an ongoing parish ministry. If you are interested in making one, or if you know someone who would like one, please call the Parish Office (386) 668-8270 for more information.

• Respite - more information to come