There have been several questions about the role of the Diocese in helping to pay for the Hospital Ministry, and why we need to still raise funds. For the past 40+ years, the Arlington Diocese has assigned a Catholic Chaplain to Fairfax Hospital, and has paid the salary, room/board, and gas for this chaplain, along with a few other related expenses.

However, when Fr. Stefan was assigned in 2015, he came in with a vision for the future of Hospital Ministry (in his own words below). He has accomplished some of these goals, but there are others are that are still “in the works”:

* 𝘐 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘪𝘯 2015, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 12,000 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵 8 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴;

* 𝘐 𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘣𝘦𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘍𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘧𝘢𝘹 𝘏𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 (𝘦.𝘨. 𝘸𝘦𝘣𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘢);

* 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘴𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘊𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦 – 𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘊𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘰𝘧 𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨.;

* 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦;

* 𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥, 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭, 𝘴𝘰 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘸𝘺𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭;

* 𝘍𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘢𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘱𝘶𝘴𝘩 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 (𝘦.𝘨. 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩-𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭, 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦, 𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘴) 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘷𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴. 𝘔𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴/𝘦𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 “𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴.”

The Diocese and others are realizing that hospitals will be places of increasing importance in the Church, particularly as places where more and more people can be brought back to Christ and His Church. However, there are many people who still don’t fully understand the rich opportunities and treasure-trove of graces that we have here at the hospital, and we need help in spreading this message of God’s Love and Mercy.