When Reverend Michael Way was asked to perform Last Rites for a Christ Episcopal Church parishioner suffering from the coronavirus, the Middletown priest initially planned to administer the sacrament over the phone.
Poor service at a nursing home made that difficult, so Way and the caseworkers devised a new plan. Since Way couldn’t be in the room with the COVID-19 positive man, they arranged to give Last Rites through the window of his room.
Equipped with a mask, Way prayed and talked through the man’s window.
Way wasn’t sure what to expect. This was his first time giving Last Rites to a person afflicted with the coronavirus. But even by standing outside the room, the moment still had the intimacy that would have been lost on the phone.
“I was shaking as I was doing it. I didn’t expect to be. I knew that the sacrament was there whether or not I felt it," Way said. "I didn’t expect to feel it as powerfully as I did.”
CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage
The patient’s cognition goes in and out, but Way said the man heard speaking through the window. When Way began reciting the Our Father, he saw the man mouthing the words to the prayer. Way performed the ceremony as usual, with the exception of giving physical communion.
Way has been at Christ Episcopal Church in Middletown for the past year, where he got to know the parishioner. The man was moved to the nursing home in the fall, and he became one of many nursing home residents around New Jersey to contract the coronavirus. Way gave the man the sacrament on April 21, and he was still alive on Saturday night.
Way needed to drive an hour to meet with the man through the window, and he didn’t hesitate to make the trip to be present in person to lend his support.
“That’s almost a better solution than the telephone because I’m so much closer to them, and I think it meant more to this individual," Way said. "And certainly it was more powerful for me, just to to be there with him.”
The moment added to a month of change and adjustment to Way’s world since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. He streams 14 services per week on Facebook, giving people a chance to congregate and pray without attending church in person.
Through those streamed services, Way has been able to see the tangible impact made by providing them.
“The numbers are kind of staggering, because we have three times the number of people who might be attending service physically actually tuning in,” Way said. "Either when the service (is) live or later to view it. And people, everybody misses each other so much. But they share, they identify themselves on the comments section and they share the peace virtually.
“It’s only by the comments that they can interact, but they do, and they get tremendous comfort from seeing the other people online at the same time, so we’re doing what we can what we can do, we’re trying to meet people where they are. It’s a challenge, of course, but I can only speak for myself, I just feel really energized and inspired to be working with other people to find the best way of feeding people at this time spiritually.”
Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription.
Chris Ryan may be reached at cryan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisRyan_NJ.
"last" - Google News
April 27, 2020 at 09:16PM
https://ift.tt/3cWPG5T
Coronavirus kept priest out of patient’s room, so he gave Last Rites through a window - NJ.com
"last" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2rbmsh7
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Coronavirus kept priest out of patient’s room, so he gave Last Rites through a window - NJ.com"
Post a Comment