Volunteers
are welcome!
Over 100 members of St. Robert
Bellarmine Parish live in Skilled Nursing Care
Facilities, Assisted Care Facilities, or are at home,
frail or ill, unable to travel to and from church to
attend Eucharistic Celebration of the Mass.
Please hold the frail
elderly, ill and homebound members of the parish in
prayer. Every week additional parishioners are released
from hospitals and want to receive the Blessed Sacrament
from a Friendly Visitor Eucharistic Minister. Will you
bring Christ to them and nurture a friendship? If you
sense a calling to bring the Blessed Sacrament to an
infirm parishioner, then please contact the parish
office at 810-659-2501.
Currently, a core group of about
twenty-five Eucharistic Ministers also serve as Friendly
Visitors. Each has adopted one, or two parishioners.
They routinely take the Blessed Sacrament to the
parishioners whom they have volunteered to serve. Most
visit weekly, some visit every other week.
If you prefer to volunteer in a
group, several teams have formed and each team visits a
care facility, taking the Blessed Sacrament to anywhere
from 12 to 50 parishioners. Mass is celebrated with the
residents of Fostrian Manor and Fostrian Court on the
2nd Wednesday of each month. A team of Friendly Visitor
Eucharistic Ministers visits Fostrian Manor and Court
every Tuesday morning. On the 4th Wednesday of each
month Mass is celebrated at the Elmcrest Village, Senior
Apartment Complex. A Eucharistic Visitor team visits the
Living Joy Assisted Living Facility every Monday
morning.
On the First Friday of every
month, the priests visit parishioners who are homebound.
The priests take the Blessed Sacrament to them and are
available for the Sacraments of Reconciliation and
Anointing of the Sick. Consequently, most Friendly
Visitor Eucharistic Ministers remind their adopted
parishioners that the priest is coming on First Friday
and then refrain from visiting the first week of the
month.
The Blessed Sacrament is carried
in a host-sized, blessed container called a Pix. The
Friendly Visitor Eucharistic Minister obtains a Pix from
the Sacristy. The Blessed Sacrament is placed into the
Pix during Communion at Mass. The Friendly Visitor holds
the Pix in front of them and holds up one or two fingers
depending upon the number of people being visited. The
Pix containing the Blessed Sacrament is then carried in
a pocket, or purse. Some Friendly Visitors obtain the
Blessed Sacrament from the Tabernacle and place the Body
of Christ into the Pix. If needed, Mr. Stevens is happy
to coach you through the process of locating a Pix and
obtaining the Blessed Sacrament from the Tabernacle.