Pastoral Care
Megan skillfully accompanies people
through heartbreak and grief, providing comfort
and empowering them to make meaning in the midst of pain.
- Rev. Rachel Lonberg, Rev. Kierstin Homblette, Aidan McCormack, Ministerial Colleagues
through heartbreak and grief, providing comfort
and empowering them to make meaning in the midst of pain.
- Rev. Rachel Lonberg, Rev. Kierstin Homblette, Aidan McCormack, Ministerial Colleagues
"You have been called." Those were the words my internship supervisor used to pass on a pastoral call. A visitor to the congregation was dying and had requested my presence at his bedside. I went. We briefly planned his memorial service. Mostly, he wanted to sit quietly, for me to hold his hand, to simply be together.
The greatest blessing of ministry for me is answering that call, the one that comes in the hardest of times, the one that says "listen;" "be near;"
"hold my hand;" "hear my story;" "walk with me on this journey."
I bring to parish ministry more than a year of training and experience working with families in a busy New York City hospital. At New York Presbyterian, I accompanied parents through the unexpected birth, hospitalization, and sometimes death of their premature infants. I sat at the bedsides of chronically-ill children and companioned weary caregivers. I listened to elderly patients confused by dementia and to their children, devastated by the decisions facing them as they cared for their aging parents.
During my time as a chaplain, I served on the hospital's Committee on Peri-Natal and Post-Natal Loss and helped facilitate the annual pediatric memorial service. Additionally, I am a trainer with the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice on pastoral care for reproductive decision making and loss. I am especially honored to care for women and families during the most tender times.
The greatest blessing of ministry for me is answering that call, the one that comes in the hardest of times, the one that says "listen;" "be near;"
"hold my hand;" "hear my story;" "walk with me on this journey."
I bring to parish ministry more than a year of training and experience working with families in a busy New York City hospital. At New York Presbyterian, I accompanied parents through the unexpected birth, hospitalization, and sometimes death of their premature infants. I sat at the bedsides of chronically-ill children and companioned weary caregivers. I listened to elderly patients confused by dementia and to their children, devastated by the decisions facing them as they cared for their aging parents.
During my time as a chaplain, I served on the hospital's Committee on Peri-Natal and Post-Natal Loss and helped facilitate the annual pediatric memorial service. Additionally, I am a trainer with the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice on pastoral care for reproductive decision making and loss. I am especially honored to care for women and families during the most tender times.
Pregnant Rev. Megan and a member of Shoreline UU Society, Madison, CT, Summer 2013
My experience in the hospital and on my own journey enables me to be present to members, friends, and visitors across the lifespan. Mine is a ministry of presence, a heart full of compassion. The essence of pastoral care is deep, active listening: hearing another's story, honoring their experience, feeling with them sadness, grief, heartbreak as well as hope and joy and gratitude. We cannot know what tomorrow will bring, we can only pledge to walk together, to be present, to listen.
In parish life, pastoral care happens everywhere: in RE classrooms and parish halls,
in living rooms and hospital rooms, from the pulpit and in the pew,
during formal appointments in the minister's office and brief encounters before
a Sunday service. I have counseled grieving spouses before funerals and nervous parents before weddings. I have cared for congregational leaders weary with conflict and young people struggling with mental illness and substance abuse.
Wherever and however it happens, the trust others place in me is a sacred gift.
In parish life, pastoral care happens everywhere: in RE classrooms and parish halls,
in living rooms and hospital rooms, from the pulpit and in the pew,
during formal appointments in the minister's office and brief encounters before
a Sunday service. I have counseled grieving spouses before funerals and nervous parents before weddings. I have cared for congregational leaders weary with conflict and young people struggling with mental illness and substance abuse.
Wherever and however it happens, the trust others place in me is a sacred gift.
Megan has already shown herself to be a gifted and resilient ministerial presence...
- Rev. Rosemary Bray-McNatt
- Rev. Rosemary Bray-McNatt
Listening at a congregational meeting
You have brought so much healing to our congregation. I feel that we are in a much healthier place because of your presence. - Congregational Leader
I always think of you with love and gratitude.
I continue to appreciate deeply all you did for [my late husband] and I.
- Member, The Universalist Church
I continue to appreciate deeply all you did for [my late husband] and I.
- Member, The Universalist Church
We are so thankful to have shared so many challenging and inspiring moments with Rev. Megan.
- Nan and Clark Rogers, The Universalist Church
[As a hospital chaplain,] Megan was respected for her ability to provide empathic attuned listening, spiritual assessment and extensive and intensive spiritual care.
- Rev. A. Meigs Ross, ACPE, BCC, LMSW; New York Presbyterian Hospital
- Rev. A. Meigs Ross, ACPE, BCC, LMSW; New York Presbyterian Hospital