Pastoral Care in action: Visiting, praying, and accompanying the sick with love

At Mary, Mother of the Redeemer Parish in Calgary, a dedicated group of lay volunteer missionaries live this Gospel every week. Under the guidance of Deacon Ricardo Rosero and coordinator Gladys Alvarez, the Pastoral Care Ministry in Spanish serves those who are ill, elderly, or confined to their homes, bringing them Holy Communion, prayer, and companionship.

“Our commitment,” says Deacon Rosero, “is to foster a more humane and Christian culture in the face of pain, suffering, disability, loneliness, death, and grieving.”

Serving Christ in the sick

Eighteen commissioned Ministers of Communion and an equal number of Silent Apostles, companions who accompany and pray, visit the sick each Sunday. They carry the Eucharist to parishioners who can no longer attend Mass, offering not only the Body of Christ but also presence, comfort, and a reminder that they remain part of the Church.

Throughout the year, the team brings Communion weekly to nearly forty people across the city, whether in senior residences, hospitals, or private homes. Each pair of missionaries covers a different area of Calgary, ensuring that the whole city is reached “in one Sunday,” as Deacon Rosero explains. “Our mission is to bring the Kingdom of God closer to them through our service.”

Special visits are made on holy days such as Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, Christmas, and the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. In moments of serious illness, the pastoral team also coordinates with the parish priest so that the faithful can receive Confession or the Anointing of the Sick.

A ministry of prayer and presence

Prayer remains the heartbeat of this ministry. Each month, parishioners gather for two evening liturgies:

• a Mass for the Sick on the first Tuesday, preceded by the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, and
• a Memorial Mass on the first Wednesday to pray for deceased loved ones.
  
  

Every February, the community joins the worldwide celebration of the World Day of the Sick, praying a novena to Our Lady of Health (Our Lady of Lourdes). During that Mass, all volunteers renew their commitment to serve.

“We pray for the sick, for their families, and for those who care for them,” Deacon Rosero notes. “It strengthens our own faith and the faith of the parish.”

When a patient dies, the ministry accompanies the family in mourning and remembrance. Last year, twelve people who had received Communion from the missionaries passed away. Their names were remembered during the Annual Mass for the Faithful Departed, celebrated on the final Wednesday of Ordinary Time.

Training new missionaries

A milestone this past year was the successful translation and launch of the Pastoral Care Ministry Training Course in Spanish. Deacon Rosero and Gladys Alvarez spent months adapting diocesan formation materials, written originally in English, so that Spanish-speaking Catholics could receive instruction in their own language.

The inaugural five-week course ran in May and June 2025 at Mary, Mother of the Redeemer Parish, with thirteen participants completing certification. All now serve actively in the ministry.

​The new course covers the theology of suffering, pastoral listening, practical guidelines for visiting the sick, and the spiritual significance of bringing Holy Communion outside Mass. Participants also learn how to collaborate with clergy, maintain confidentiality, and accompany families with compassion.

​Beyond their Sunday visits, the volunteers cultivate fellowship and spiritual renewal through regular formation and prayer. They participate in parish retreats, Eucharistic adoration, rosaries, and processions. Twice a year, they attend workshops or spiritual retreats to deepen their understanding of mercy and pastoral care.

Moments of joy and friendship are also part of their rhythm: a summer gathering for volunteers and families, and a Christmas celebration where missionaries give thanks for another year of service.

​Witness of compassion

The Spanish-speaking Pastoral Care Ministry represents one of the many cultural expressions of faith flourishing within the Diocese of Calgary. Its volunteers bridge language and distance to ensure that no one is forgotten.

“Many of our brothers and sisters cannot come to church,” Deacon Rosero says. “When we arrive with the Eucharist, their faces light up. They know the Lord is with them.”

The ministry’s impact is measured not only in numbers, thousands of Communions distributed each year, but in transformed hearts, both of those visited and of those who serve.

As the Church celebrates the Jubilee Year of Hope, the volunteers of Mary, Mother of the Redeemer Parish embody that hope through every visit, prayer, and gentle word offered to the suffering.

“Christ Himself comes to the sick through our hands,” Deacon Rosero affirms. “That is why we serve, with love, reverence, and joy.”

​In this ministry, the diocesan call to Renewal becomes visible. Every visit reminds the homebound and the sick that they matter, to God and to their parish family. And every volunteer, moved by compassion, discovers anew that they too matter in the mission of the Church.