Two CommonSpirit hospitals launching chaplain shadowing program for seminarians

By JULIE MINDA

As part of a broader effort to more closely integrate Catholic health care into Catholic parish life, two CommonSpirit Health hospitals soon will welcome third-year seminarians — all of whom are preparing for their final year of study — onto their campuses so they can learn about and experience what it’s like to provide spiritual care to sick and dying people.

Under the partnership with St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, California, the two hospitals — St. John Hospital in Camarillo and St. John’s Regional Medical Center about 10 miles away in Oxnard — will host small cohorts of seminary students for sixweek sessions. Participants will learn about why and how chaplains provide spiritual care to patients. They will shadow hospital chaplains in their daily work before being given opportunities to take the lead in providing spiritual care to patients.

The instruction and one-on-one shadowing will equip the seminarians with the skills they need to effectively minister to the sick and dying and support bereaved and grieving families, says Fr. Lawrence D. Ahyuwa, chaplain services supervisor for the Camarillo and Oxnard hospitals.