Contact
Coordinator of Columbia Catholic Hospital Ministry
Deacon Mike W. Berendzen
573-635-9127, ext. 223
Alphonse J. Schwartze
Memorial Catholic Center
2207 West Main Street
Jefferson City, MO 65109-0914
What We Do
Columbia Catholic Hospital Ministry has been providing for the needs of Catholics in multiple Columbia healthcare facilities since the 1970s. Currently, those facilities include: MU Health Care Hospitals (including Missouri Orthopedic Institute, Missouri Psychiatric Center, Women’s Hospital), Boone Health, Landmark Hospital, Rusk Rehabilitation Hospital, and Columbia Post-Acute.
Our team provides a variety of services. Priests are on-call daily to provide the Sacraments of Anointing of the Sick and Reconciliation/Confession. A trained chaplain is available to visit with patients and families and assist with any needs they may have. Our Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion bring the Blessed Sacrament to patients and families who wish to receive Communion.
Our goal is to ensure Catholic patients and families are supported and cared for during their time in the hospital and that their religious and spiritual needs are met.
To ensure you are fully supported during your time at a healthcare facility, please confirm at registration or with your nurse that you are Catholic and that your medical records indicate this preference.
Request Services
You may use the online form below to request services. We will contact you as soon as possible!
Hospital Ministry - Request Services
Services Offered
- Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick
- Sacrament of Reconciliation
- Receive Communion
- Visit by Catholic chaplain
- Assist with connection to your home parish and/or pastor
- Assist with questions of Catholic faith/ethics in healthcare decisions
- Provide Catholic resources
In the Church’s Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, through the ministry of the priest, it is Jesus who touches the sick to heal them from sin – and sometimes even from physical ailment. His cures were signs of the arrival of the Kingdom of God. The core message of his healing tells us of his plan to conquer sin and death by his dying and rising.
The Rite of Anointing tells us there is no need to wait until a person is at the point of death to receive the Sacrament. A careful judgment about the serious nature of the illness is sufficient.
When the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick is given, the hoped-for effect is that, if it be God’s will, the person be physically healed of illness. But even if there is no physical healing, the primary effect of the Sacrament is a spiritual healing by which the sick person receives the Holy Spirit’s gift of peace and courage to deal with the difficulties that accompany serious illness or the frailty of old age.
Locations
- MU Health Care Hospitals
- Missouri Orthopedic Institute
- Missouri Psychiatric Center
- Women's Hospital
- Boone Health
- Landmark Hospital
- Rusk Rehabilitation Hospital
- Columbia Post-Acute