Priest Visiting Nursing Home

  • Thread starter Thread starter ChurchGirl
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
C

ChurchGirl

Guest
I work in a nursing home and we have a priest who comes in once a week to do Mass for our residents. I have some concerns about the altar clothes that he uses. He never washes them, nor the cloth he wipes the chalice with after Communion. He just folds them up and puts them back in a bag that he leaves at the nursing home. He also leaves the chalice and paten with us, which are also dirty. It was always my understanding that the altar clothes and chalices need to be washed in a special sink at the church, so I don’t think I can just take them home and wash them myself. However, they are so dirty! Also, he has now asked our nursing home to purchase our own Communion wafers and wine. We are not a Catholic skilled nursing facility, so we don’t feel we should have to be buying his supplies. I’m not sure what to do about this! It seems so disrespectful that he just leaves the clothes stained with consecrated wine in a bag in our closet! Any suggestions as to how to approach this? Thank you and God bless!
 
I don’t think the altar cloths need to be washed in the special sink. Perhaps you could offer to wash them and see what the priest says. I remember when the Rosary Altar Society women used to take care of those things when I was a kid. I remember my mom ironing the linens. Ask him how he would like you to clean the chalice. As far as the host and wine… I have to say, I think the facility is being a bit chintzy to not pay for it. He is coming to their facility to do something for its residents. Should the cost of that come out of his pocket?
 
Last edited:
If by “altar cloths” the OP means the corporal, purificator, and lavabo towel, the first two definitely need to be rinsed in a sacrarium or in a container of clear water if there is no sacrarium (the water is then poured out onto the ground, such as in a garden) prior to laundering.
 
Does this priest come from a parish? Could you ask him to put you in touch with whoever handles the laundering at his parish so you could either get instructions from them how to do it, or maybe they could do it with the rest of their altar linens and then give the clean things back to you?
 
Yes, he is from a parish in the same town as the nursing home. And yes, I am referring to the cloth that he wipes the chalice with. It seems disrespectful to me that he just rolls them up and puts them back in the duffel bag and puts it in our storage closet at the nursing home… and uses that same cloth the following week.

I am inquiring about these things because the priest that was previously coming to serve mass for us brought all of his own things with him when he came, and took them back to his parish with him when he left. This priest seems to have a different routine, so I was wondering if something has changed?

So it seems I am correct about the special sink.

On top of all this, we are all a bit shy about approaching a priest and “questioning” what he is doing. :crazy_face:
 
It seems likely the new priest might not know the routine of taking the linens back to his parish to be washed. I’m surprised he hasn’t remarked on them being dirty when he comes back repeatedly.

He may also just be the absent-minded professor type of priest who doesn’t notice dirt and relies heavily on his sacristans to keep things ship-shape.

Like I said, ask him if he can put you in touch with whoever cleans his altar linens. Explain that the last priest always took them away to be washed and brought a clean set, and that you don’t have the proper facilities nor a trained person to wash them there.
 
Well, wish us luck. He’s coming today to do the mass for our nursing home residents. Unfortunately, he’s not exactly “Mr. Friendly.”

In reality, we were wondering if there is a way to somehow get a different priest. The previous priest was very personable, took his time doing the mass, and geared his homilies toward the elderly. This guy rushes through the mass in 20 minutes and does not seem at all comfortable around the elderly. He was assigned to us by the diocese, as a kind of “chaplain” and he is also the one we are supposed to call to perform last rites. Well, from Friday of last week, the nursing staff was trying to call him to come in for a resident. Everyone left messages. Even our other chaplain (who is a rabbi!) tried calling him. The woman sadly passed away on Monday without recieving last rites.

And then, there is the issue with the altar clothes that have not been washed in MONTHS.

We kind of feel stuck with this guy, and are afraid to say anything to him or to the diocese, because we know there is a shortage of priests and we are afraid they won’t send us anyone else! (It took the diocese forever to get this guy for us after the previous priest, who was an absolute gem, was reassigned.)

I did try to politely ask him to slow down while he was doing the mass. I explained that most of our residents are hard of hearing, and they cannot follow the prayers because he is going too fast. His response to me was, “Which prayers do you want me to say more slowly?” I was really kind of shocked! So I just looked at him and said, “All of them!”

Well, it didn’t change the situation at all.

So I’m not very hopeful about mentioning the altar cloths to him either.

Ugh.
 
I would suggest you make a couple more attempts to give the priest feedback. If not, you really have to speak to the diocese. If he is not available to give last rites in an emergency situation, that is alarming, and I would definitely tell him so.

Also, are there any orders of priests in your area who might be able to help with this ministry? Often they are not under the control of the diocese and I do know some orders who help with nursing homes or other facilities.
 
Last edited:
I’m gonna try again today. If he doesn’t react accordingly, I would love to know of some orders who specifically minister to nursing homes. That would be a great help! We don’t want our Catholic residents to be without a priest. It was one little lady years ago who pushed for us to begin weekly mass at the nursing home. THIS IS IMPORTANT TO THEM!
 
I would suggest that if you need to reach out to orders, you first check with any Franciscan or Norbertine orders in your area. They do a lot of service work in the community. Or if there is a college near you run by an order, you might check there as they might be able to direct you to an order even if they themselves don’t support nursing homes.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top