Pastoral Care in Community

At St. Aidan’s we seek to care for one another as God cares for us. In addition to pastoral care offered by our clergy, community based pastoral care offers support in three areas.

Support and Sustenance

This group focuses on concrete, everyday things we can do to support community members who may be ill or isolated. Prior to the pandemic, one group was gathering periodically to make and freeze soup for those who might need it due to illness or emergency. During the lockdown phase of the pandemic, we met periodically via Zoom to organize

support for folks who need extra assistance and connection. That support has included helping someone with light errands (e.g. grocery shopping), writing cards, dropping off a hot meal, or doing periodic check-in "buddy calls" over the phone.

Spiritual Care

Several St. Aidanites are trained as Eucharistic Visitors and can bring Communion to people who are are unable to attend worship in person.

ELM - End of Life Ministries

An outgrowth of a Christian Formation series in the spring of 2018, the ELM committee meets regularly to share wisdom and gather resources for members of the parish and their loved ones who are making decisions related to end of life care. Their ministry seeks to assist in three phases: before in life care planning, during and surrounding the time of death, and after death. While it is not ELM's role to be agents or personal helpers of those navigating these questions and circumstances, the group encourages parishioners to find helpers, aided by the resources and information ELM has gathered. They have put together a Resource Binder to assist in navigating these phases. A physical copy of the binder is available in the St. Aidan's office and a pdf link to it is coming to this website soon. In November of 2021, ELM organized an interfaith, neighborhood-based service to acknowledge the losses of COVID, which included the dedication of a bronze plaque, now placed in front of a small tree by St. Aidan's main doors, that reads "The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Lives lost, lives changed by COVID. Rev. 22:2." Also in 2021, ELM helped envision and create a banner in front of St. Aidan's that says "Together: We Grieve and Remember, We Struggle and Rise."

Handout for May 3 ELM presentation is linked here.

If you would like to connect with any of these groups or efforts, please feel free to reach out to the parish administer at office@staidansf.org