My Ministry - Sr Mary O'Neill

My ministry as Pastoral Care Co-Ordinator at Our Lady of Fatima Parish, Kingsgrove is ever changing and challenging.  The overall co-ordination involves numerous groups within the Parish - Young Vinnies, Caring and Support Group, Catholic Women's League, St Vincent de Paul and the Parish Pastoral Council - as well as local service providers and an outreach to the wider community through these groups.

Visitation is a significant part of my ministry.  I visit the sick, elderly and dying in their own homes and in hospitals and those who are in Nursing Homes and do not have significant family support.  I organize funerals and am involved in supporting bereaved families.

Being involved in visitation takes on a broader aspect.  As I have been in the Parish for so long I know generations of the families.  This provides a precious dimension to my work - it takes me into the daily struggles, joys and hopes of these families.

Another aspect of my ministry is to organize Prayer Groups and Reflections for small groups.  In these groups we aim through our prayer, reflections and practical support to spread the cycles of care and compassion to all families, to the earth as our Mother and to all its creatures.

As John O'Donoghue states in Divine Beauty - The Invisible Embrace

The voice of compassion is not absorbed with itself.

It is a voice imbued with understanding and healing.

This voice dwells somewhere in every human heart.