Priest in the hospital, at Easter. “If guards were organized, like the doctors do, it still wouldn't be enough”
Charity priests see double suffering – soul and body – impotence, but also hope. During the Holidays, the need for comfort is even greater, as patients feel more keenly the desire to be at home, with their loved ones.
The priest has been serving at the “Vasile cel Mare-Spital” Church for almost 10 years PHOTO: A. Mitran
They are meant to comfort Christians in the most difficult moments of their lives, sometimes taking patients by the hand, both literally and figuratively, when it seems that there is nothing left to do. The needs are great, and in public hospitals this is even more acute. How can a hospital priest, together with his parishioners, bring a drop of light where the darkness seems all-powerful, I learned in the discussion with the charity priest Gigi Stănculeț, priest at the Slatina County Emergency Hospital.
He has been serving for almost 10 years at the church in the courtyard of the Slatina Hospital, built a quarter of a century ago. The first priest was Gheorghe Delureanu, the one who managed to convince of the need for a place where patients and relatives can look for hope. This is how a small church appeared, almost hidden between the “wings” of the hospital, where people walk every day, whether it's a holiday or not, with the hope of comfort.
Children, extreme urgency
The needs in a hospital with over 1,400 beds are great. Priest Gigi Constantin Stănculeț confesses that he made a choice. From the multitude of places where support should not be rejected, it was first focused on children. Neonatology needs baby bottles, diapers for newborns, bedding made from natural materials and more. Children's surgery required a special cart for medicines, children's neurological recovery, years ago, various devices, vertical blinds, etc., in other places you need to wonder what. Sometimes the needs are clearly expressed by the staff of the wards, other times the priest finds out in the daily visits he makes. The help is offered with the support of the parishioners of the parish, more and more every year, with colleagues from other parishes and with other benefactors. An association has not been thought of for now, because, he says, God has always arranged things so that a problem can be solved in a short time. Transport money for the sick who have no other way to get home, for food, money to put something on the table and a thick winter coat for various families – these are the normality.
Where help is needed, priest Gici Stănculeț says “Present” PHOTO: personal archive
how does it “Also through the people, because they have gotten used to it. I give them a sign as much as is needed, it is about the community that we have formed here. Being a missionary parish, only a few people come from the neighborhood, and a beautiful community has been created. A part remained from Father Delureanu, who established the church almost 25 years ago, in 2002”, specified the priest.
He arrived at the church of the largest hospital in the county 10 years after entering the priesthood and after a wonderful experience in Bălăneşti, in the Mărunței commune. He had contact with the hospital priesthood since his university days. However, he did not think that everything would be so intense.
The first dramatic experience made him think for a long time, making him wonder if he can handle all that it entails to be with those who are trying hard. He was called to the bedside of a 31-year-old man suffering from cancer. He met his wife and one-year-old child in the hallway. “It was the first time I thought about whether I made the right step or the wrong step by coming to the hospital,” the priest recalled. Since then, there have been experiences that are sadder, which are more hopeful, from children with serious health problems, to baptisms of necessity and prayers for young people, adults and old people tried by illnesses that relatives do not even pronounce.
After almost 10 years of working in the hospital, he can already look back. And the findings are not encouraging. Those who do not go home today, for the Holidays, are much more than years ago. He observes this from the number of requests that come to him from the level of medical departments.
“People, when they stay in the hospital during the Holidays, demand a lot from the priest, especially those who have a connection with the church and at your home, in the localities where they live. I was in these mornings every day, there was not a single day without such requests”, the priest pointed. The period, it is true, was one with a special spiritual charge, being Holy Week, in which Christians prepare their souls for the Resurrection of the Lord.
“They learn about the church from each other or from the ward staff”
Patients enter the church less, instead relatives seek peace and comfort. Over time, former patients became parishioners of the church dedicated to “Vasile the Great” and hopeful members of the community that does as much good as it can.
“I come, say a prayer here, light a candle and that's how we get in touch. I have my father, I have my mother, uncle, aunt, grandfather and so on. But it is known, I mean it is found, I think, from word to word there, also among the patients, that there is a church in the courtyard. Or ask the medical staff and tell them. Just today a patient asked me – Father, do you do Easter? where do you do – And he was surprised to find out that there is a church”the priest reported.
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He has great joy when he sees the hospital staff open the door of the church. Some have also brought their family members, they come together to the services.
The spiritual need seems to be greater day by day and surpasses the material one. “If only I could make guards like medics and that wouldn't be enough. It is a constant need. When there are emergencies, it's the number on the door of the church, I don't take the schedule into account anymore”says priest Gigi Stănculeț.
Parishioners are more difficult to shepherd than in an ordinary parish, where you can organize your time and activities, because people have their habits, and those who adapt are the people of the church.
“Daddy's dying. What do I do, Father?”
He once received a tip from a good friend, fellow college student, and since then he avoids getting around patients in black reverence, because he noticed that the impact is different. Unfortunately, he says, many still associate the priest's presence with the final moment. This is how, in many cases, the hospital priest is called upon, the relatives coming when they find out that there is extremely little time left for saying goodbye and rites.
“Dad dies, what do I do, father? I'm going, but it might be late now, I tell them. I understand some, others don't, I think it's bad will on our part. I go, anyway I also go to the patient's bed. However, administering Holy Confession and Holy Communion is very complicated. They are prayers for health and forgiveness of sins, and God orders further”explains the priest.
Many patients seek a priest for confession and communion for the first time in their hospital bed. Of the total number of those who request the priest, approximately 20% are in this situation, the priest estimates.
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The string of hard moments is long, maybe too long, but there are also moments of sincere joy. From the cycle of experiences that fill his soul with joy, a surprise visit that he had recently was counted, the priest reported. A mother walked into the church with her two-year-old son, whom she introduced as the newborn baptized at a difficult time, in Neonatology. Now the baptisms of necessity have become rarer, but years ago, the priest said, there were one or two a month.
“I was very happy. He came to thank and present the little boy to me: father, thank you, he is the child you baptized and he lived!”the priest specified.
Necessary baptism, the priest also specified, can be officiated by any Christian, something that not everyone knows.
Good is done with help from colleagues and parishioners PHOTO: personal archive
“Sprinkled with water – in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit – three times. (…) If, God forbid, it happens somewhere where the priest cannot reach, any baptized Christian can officiate.” the priest also showed.
The priest draws attention to the fact that we must show care for the soul throughout the year. If it happened like this, we would not end up in the situations where on the eve of major holidays, priests are assaulted, and so are churches.
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“I somehow tried to teach people and pass on my message. They don't live strictly now, this week, that they know there are jobs too. In my case, I asked them to understand that I must go to the patients first. And they have to be patient, because there is a schedule for medication, it's doctor's visit time, we somehow have to make our schedule in such a way that we don't disturb the medical act in the hospital. And I get it, only children run out of patience sometimes. Many children come to share”the priest also said.
He has seen many of these children grow up, he knows them from maternity, they were first brought in their arms by their parents, and today they also come alone.
In the small church people are not judged by how they keep the ordinances. He had discussions at the beginning with the core of parishioners who come frequently and determined to overlook the little awkwardnesses they notice or to call attention gently. It may seem like an unimportant detail, but instead that detail will remove a soul so wounded from the place it sought with such great hope.
Children before other priorities, the priest decided FOTo: personal archive
What is the hardest thing about busy times like Easter for a patient in hospital? Many are hard to bear, but the most pressing is the lack of loved ones. “I noticed that they are crying because they are not at home with their relatives, for this great holiday. They wish with all their heart. And I tell them – health is more important, you can see your grandchildren and children even after Easter. And they say to me – father, but now it was beautiful, we were also cracking an egg… It is painful for them that they are not in the bosom of the family at the great celebration of the Resurrection”added the priest.
However, the patients receive Easter, through the medical staff, every year, in the salons. During the first years of his priesthood in the Slatina hospital, the priest personally went to each salon, but over time, as the number of parishioners increased, he had to change his habits.
