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Health & Wellness
The Monitor • FEBRUARY 21, 2019
Providing Comfort
Morris Hall residents find peace in World Day of the Sick commemoration Story by Lois Rogers Correspondent
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ell before the start of Mass in the chapel of Morris Hall, Lawrenceville, residents gathered not only inside the sacred space but in the spacious hallway outside and upstairs choir loft for prayer and fellowship. “Everyone would like to receive the anointing,” Lee Tagliaferri said before the Feb. 11 Mass commemorating World Day of the Sick, which includes the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick. Tagliaferri and fellow residents Betty Leedom and Marianite of Holy Cross Sister Sylvia Asseline shared their enthusiasm for the observance and noted the importance of having daily access to the Sacraments. Each described it as a key reason for choosing to live in the Morris Hall community. “In order to get to the dining room, residents have to pass by the chapel six times a day,” Tagliaferri said. “It’s six opportunities a day for Eucharistic Adoration.” Leedom, a bubbly resident of St. Joseph Skilled Nursing, nodded her head in agreement. “If you pass by the chapel, it’s very hard not to go in,” she said. Added Sister Sylvia, an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion, “The reason we came here is for health and wellness.”
Sharing In Faith The World Day of the Sick commemoration, organized by the diocesan Department of Pastoral Care, included a Mass celebrated by Father Angelo Amaral, Morris Hall chaplain, and concelebrants Msgr. Hugh Ronan, Msgr. Ralph Stansley and Father Daniel G. Cahill. Afterward, they dispersed throughout the campus, anointing all residents unable to attend the liturgy. In his homily, Father Amaral spoke of the blessings associated with Morris Hall being a place where medicine melds with faith and sacramental observance. “Receiving the anointing is God’s blessing,” he said, noting how the commemoration was instituted by St. John Paul II in
Msgr. Hugh Ronan, a retired priest of the Diocese, administers the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick to a Morris Hall resident during the Mass celebrated Feb. 11, World Day of the Sick. John Blaine photo
1992. He encouraged the faithful to “call upon Mary to ask for her intercession in healing of the body, mind, spirit and soul.” Further, he asked for “prayer for all those who dedicate themselves to the care of the sick and work in ministries that serve the sick. It is a beautiful trust,” he said, to know that Jesus is here for us.”
Precious Memories After Mass, residents Sarah Hoffman and Celia Ghazi expressed their appreciation for being a part of the celebration, held yearly on the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. “I looked forward to this Mass for a long time,” said Hoffman, who lives in the Grace Garden Assisted Living and Memory Care on the second floor of Morris Hall. “I feel right at home here.” Ghazi lives in one of the houses in The Meadows, an innovative and contemporary approach to nursing home care where residents and their relatives have input into the communal style of living. Her son, who is a physician, researched facilities before they settled on The Meadows, she explained. “He wanted a place where he felt I would be well looked after,” Ghazi said. “I wanted some place that was very Catholic. I was brought up in a Catholic home and schools. I wanted to follow my religion.”
Volunteers reflect on the graces gained in helping the infirm By Lois Rogers, Correspondent
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hose who volunteer in the Morris Hall senior care communities say their ministry is about giving, yes, but it’s about receiving, too. “It’s definitely a two-way street,” said Janice Haggerty, who has volunteered for Morris Hall for 16 years. Volunteers “get as much, if not more than the residents. It’s joyful and spiritual. It shines a lot of light.” On Feb. 11, as scores of residents, medical professionals and volunteers tucked into Morris Hall Chapel – the heart of the 40-acre diocesan health care campus in Lawrenceville – for World Day of the Sick, volunteers discussed what it means to share their time, attention and friendship with those living in the communities of St. Mary Assisted Living, St. Joseph Skilled Nursing and the houses that comprise Morris Hall Meadows, a Medicare and Medicaid residence. Phyllis Vannozzi, a retired educator and one of more than 100 volunteers from parishes around the Diocese, serves as a reader regularly in Morris Hall Chapel. Reflecting on the day’s Mass, celebrated by Father Angelo Amaral, Morris Hall chaplain, she said she was moved during the administering of the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick and the blessing of the hands of the medical professionals who serve them. “I was so proud of the moment when Father [Amaral] blessed the hands of the doctors. I prayed for people to feel that moment when Peter said, ‘Rise and walk.’ I [prayed] they would feel the fact that this is a place where miracles do happen – where friendships and attachments are formed, where faith is renewed.”
Caring Spirits Vannozzi first started volunteering in the chapel six years ago when she was newly retired. “My husband was volunteering in Morris Hall’s rehabilitation center, and I began attending Mass in the chapel. One day, there was a need for a reader at the Mass, and I filled in. It was one Mass, but you know what happens, one Mass leads to more.” She reads three days a week now, whenever a special program is being held as well as funerals and feast day Masses, she said. What she is most fond of, however, is connecting with residents, many of whom she knows by name and seek her out for conversation. “They are always
For more photos from World Day of the Sick,visit TrentonMonitor.com>Multimedia> Photo Galleries
happy to see you, they smile at you, give you a kiss. Many just want to talk,” Vannozzi said. She describes the chapel as a “vibrant, growing community,” adding, “People come because they feel comfortable” since there is always help and companionship. “Every volunteer who comes pushes a wheelchair to help a resident go to Mass. I think we are doing God’s work.”
Reaching Out That’s the sense throughout the campus, where God’s work includes a host of opportunities to contribute. In 2018, more than 100 volunteers contributed more than 7,576 hours in pastoral care, friendly visits, pet therapy, music, activities, and arts and crafts, said Haggerty, a member of nearby St. Ann Parish. “There are so many ways to volunteer, and we are always looking for more dedicated volunteers,” she said. A member of the Morris Hall Community Board, which concentrates on funding and coordinating the many activities that fill the resident’s calendar and enhance the environment, Haggerty is also the coordinator of extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, many of whom bring the Eucharist to the rooms of residents unable to make it to chapel. “It is a spiritual experience to pray with them, to give them the host, to share the peace they get from receiving the Sacrament,” said Haggerty, speaking of the bond that develops between volunteers and residents. “Having had the experience myself, it becomes so familiar – they are happy to hear about our families, they want to see pictures of our children and grandchildren and talk,” she said. Deanna Sass, director of the diocesan Department of Pastoral Care, said pastoral visits to the residents send the message “that they are precious in God’s eyes, they are loved and worth your time. I find that when I make a pastoral visit, I experience the presence of God in such a profound way.” “I have never made my rounds in a hospital or nursing home without feeling very blessed, knowing that I have received more than I have ever given,” she added. Phyllis Vannozzi serves as a reader during the World Day of the Sick Mass Feb. 11 in Morris Hall Chapel. John Blaine photo