PASTORAL CARE COMMITTEE

Like most other unprogrammed Quaker meetings, the Hanover Meeting has no formal minister. In practice we like to think that we are all ministers and minister to one another. We may do that individually but sometimes we work collectively through a committee. Our Clerk is the closest to what more traditional churches consider a minister. As such he or she is usually at the heart of what goes on in our Meeting and notifies the appropriate committee when members and attenders have needs. Those needs may vary widely, from wanting to arrange for a marriage under the care of our Meeting to arranging for rides to a series of physical therapy appointments. Our Clerk is most often the contact point for connecting the person with needs to the right person or committee. Several years ago it became clear that our Ministry and Counsel Committee was spending significant amounts of time organizing pastoral care services. This meant that it had less time to work on nurturing the spiritual life of the Meeting. To address this problem a Pastoral Care Committee was formed under its aegis to address how we could provide pastoral care services in a more thoughtful and organized way. This list is our effort to give our members and attenders an idea of the services we provide. Should you see a service that we provide that would be helpful to you, please contact our Clerk. If there is a service that is not listed that you feel might be one we should consider adding to our list, please also contact our clerk so that we can discuss that.

The list below provides a brief description of the services we currently try to provide:

• Meals provided to those in need, with special attention to dietary restrictions
• Meeting for Worship and /or visitation with the homebound
• Transportation: short term needs, eg; rides to doctors, physical therapists, etc.
• Transportation to and from Meeting for Worship and other Meeting activities
• Hospital visitations
• Prayer vigils for those who are ill or undergoing surgery
• Spiritual and practical support for conflicts and decision making
• Matching specific needs with members who may be able to meet those needs
• Prayer shawls for people who are ill, recovering from an illness, or facing difficult times

Please contact the Clerk of our Meeting if you or a family member is in need of any of these or similar services

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