Ever since there has been a full-time Catholic chaplain at Fairfax Hospital, the Diocese has paid for that priest’s salary as well as any incidental supplies needed. For a long time, the Hospital Ministry consisted of just one full-time priest supported by volunteers – priests from other parishes when he was off-duty or Eucharistic Ministers (religious or lay people) to distribute communion.  In 2001, the Diocese “hired” a religious sister from the Sisters of Our Lady of La Salette to be a full-time Assistant Chaplain to assist the Chaplain.  When Fr. Stefan Starzynski became the Chaplain in 2015, the Diocese assigned another priest to be the permanent part-time Associate Chaplain to take care of Fairfax Hospital during Fr. Stefan’s days off or when he was on vacation.  In doing this, the Diocese agreed to pay a part-time salary and cost reimbursements for this part-time priest.  Fr. Stefan also began distributing Prayer Folders to patients on a regular basis, and he had a vision to expand these folders to other hospitals and other healthcare facilities throughout the Diocese.

Due to the growing costs of the Hospital Ministry, the Diocese agreed in 2019 to hire a part-time (10-19 hours per week) bookkeeper/admin assistant.  In addition to taking care of the budget/all expense reports for the Ministry and putting together the Prayer Folders, the administrative assistant has also branched out into other expansion areas for the Hospital Ministry.  She has condensed all the components of the Prayer Folders into a single “Hospital Ministry Booklet,” making it easier for the Chaplain (and potentially other priests) to distribute it to patients.  She also created and maintains/updates the Hospital Ministry’s various internet presence – the www.padrepioministry.org website and our Facebook and YouTube accounts – and is looking for more areas in which to expand.  Finally, she continues to assist the Diocesan Office of Family Life in proposing and creating a Palliative Care initiative for the Diocese.

So why do we need your financial help?  The Diocese of Arlington pays for the salaries of the staff members, as well as for the cost of the various supplies and mileage incurred while they are doing their job.  However, we still need help in covering the cost of printing our Prayer Booklets and the cost of maintaining/posting on our various websites, both for technical costs as well as extra labor hours to do this.  To help support our mission of spreading faith, hope and information, please consider donating to our Ministry in one of the ways listed on this page.  Even if you can’t afford to make a monetary donation at this time, please keep our mission in your prayers.