DECEMBER 2005 T HE N EWSLETTER OF THE SAINT CAMILLUS CATHOLIC CENTER FOR PASTORAL CARE

CirclesOfHope.org

1911 ZONAL AVENUE • L OS ANGELES CA 90033-1032

T EL 3 2 3 - 2 2 5 - 4 4 6 1 • FAX 3 2 3 - 22 5 - 9 0 9 6 • STCAMILLUS@ C IRCLESO FH OPE. ORG

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

Unless otherwise noted, all events are at
A GOD WHO DWELLS
St Camillus Catholic Center for Pastoral Care
1911 Zonal Ave, Los Angeles CA 90033
AMONG US
FR. CHRIS PONNET
January 1
World Day of Peace

D
January 20, 8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
uring a recent interview on
Human Sexuality Workshop
ACC (Wilshire and Mariposa) Church and State relations, I
February 11 was asked how chaplains cope with the detail from A Visit
World Day for the Sick by John August Swanson
February 18 various levels of trauma we encounter daily.
Bob Hurd & Friends Concert In my discussions with other chaplains, the
Loyola Marymount University
March 1
answer is not simple nor is it the same for all picture that beholds the God who is love
Ash Wednesday of us. Chaplains provide pastoral listening and who accompanies us in each moment
March 31 to April 2
which allows the person to reflect on what through eternity.
Religious Education Congress
Anaheim Convention Center is happening to them and what they are This season reminds us of Hope
April 16 feeling; often, they have not had a safe continually breaking forth into our world.
Easter Sunday
place to share this regarding their illness or May the light of this season give us
Monthly traumatic moment or even their whole life. perspective and clarity and resolve to work
1st Tuesday, 11:00 a.m.
California People of Faith Against the
Faith allows us to invite the person to step in the New Year for justice and peace. May
Death Penalty meeting, ACC back from the moment before them and see this season bless all peoples and all lands.
Mezzanine (Wilshire and Mariposa)
it in the large context of eternal life and May those who are away from home due to
deathpenalty.org
2nd Tuesday, 7:00 p.m. other life situations. military or conscientious acts soon be home
AIDS Council meeting Advent affords us an opportunity to safe and free. May victims of violence,
3rd Sunday, 4:00 p.m.
Pax Christi mass for Peace And Justice take our own step back and look at the big oppression and injustice be open to the
paxchristiusa.org picture. We hear about executions in light of forgiveness and redemption. ♦
Weekly
California, our government’s support of
Tuesday, 9:00 a.m. torture by US soldiers and agents, a “no-
Interfaith Prayer service
end-in-sight, preemptive war” now
Chapel, General Hospital, Room 1818
Friday, 7:00 a.m.—9:00 a.m. becoming a principle other countries will
Interfaith Communities United for imitate, tsunamis, hurricanes, and
Justice and Peace meeting, Immanuel
Presbyterian Church basement earthquakes, sexual abuse incidents in
(Wilshire, one block west of Vermont) schools and churches, along with the
icujp.org
hospital stories we encounter of HIV/AIDS,
Masses cancers, crack children, burns, freeway
Monday - Friday, 7:30 a.m. & noon:
accidents, gang shootings, and various
Weekday Mass
Sunday, 9:30 a.m.: Bilingual Patient Mass, illness related to homelessness. We are
1st Floor Auditorium, General Hospital invited to pause in listening to these stories
(volunteers needed from 8:30 - 11:00
a.m.) and be aware of a context and larger
The artwork by John August Swanson appears
by gracious permission of the artist.
St. Camillus Center is very grateful for John’s
continuous generous support of our ministries.
WHY I SERVE World AIDS Day 2005
JIM PRUNTY

I magine waking up after a catastrophic

accident, alone in a sterile room – the
subject of clinical examination. For most of us,
it requires a fertile imagination to even come
close to the reality of a trauma admission in
the Emergency Room at Los Angeles County
Hospital. For a few – every day – the vivid
realities of such an experience take the
place of any imagination.
Many depend on
the medical care at
County Hospital: public
generous support of the Friends of St. Camillus
(that would be you) that our chaplains are
able to provide the breadth of service to all
who ask.
This service, really a vocation, does not
happen simply from need. It requires the
talents and resources of many to continue
serving our sisters and brothers in the hospital.
The Archdiocese, through the
“Together in Mission”
campaign assures the
Stop AIDS. Keep The Promise
maintenance of our

O
safety officers and physical
bserved on
civil servants presence here in
December 1, this year’s
injured on the job, the Hospital complex.
international theme relates
visitors to the country Scores of volunteers
directly to the eight UN
involved in severe support Father Chris with
Millennium Goals to “Keep
accidents and the many guidance for the center
the Promise” to fight the
residents of Los Angeles, and the outreach programs.
sources of hunger and
some of very modest means. Our very The pastoral care provided to the
poverty in our world.
capable health care providers take care of convalescing at LA County, Norris, University
their physical injuries and needs. and Women’s & Children’s hospitals goes
• Around 40 million
Yet we also hope to find a connection to beyond the delivery of basic sacraments – our
people have HIV/AIDS
our faith in that moment. For some, the chaplains deliver hope and the presence of
worldwide
moment of trauma is the catalyst for peace.
• 60% of them live in sub-
reconnecting or finding a faith in redemption Yet, very little beyond the basics could be
Saharan Africa
with Christ. We need the tangible connection done without the support of the Friends of St.
to faith that comes from the loving touch of a Camillus. I ask you to consider making a gift of • Five people die of AIDS
family member, reciting prayer with a rosary, $45 in order that our chaplains can continue every minute
or the encouraging, faithful visit of chaplain. It to deliver the articles of faith like the prayer • In the same amount of
is these spiritual needs which are tended to by books and rosaries as well as the message of time, nine more people
our chaplains of St. Camillus. faith, hope and peace to all who seek God’s are infected with HIV ♦
There has been a fifty year commitment to mercy.
the infirmed of LA County Hospital by the Abundant blessings and good cheer to
chaplains of St. Camillus. By delivering a you and your family this holiday season. Your
rosary, the Eucharist, or the sacrament of the generosity will be shared with the patients at THE CHAPLAINS
OF ST.CAMILLUS:
sick, these faithful servants of Christ have their bedside by our chaplains throughout the
provided the spiritual and sacramental healing year. (SEATED, LEFT TO RIGHT)
to many of our friends and neighbors. Wishing you all the best. SR. ANGELA PACHECO, CSJ,
Over the years, this service has grown to MR. MARK MCGANN,
include providing prayer books to Catholic Jim is the Chair of The Friends of St. Camillus. SR. MARY JEAN FERRY, BVM
patients and celebrating Mass for hundreds in Jim and his wife, Kathleen, first met Fr. Chris at
(STANDING, LEFT TO RIGHT)
the hospital as well as outreach to Our Lady of Assumption where they were
FR. TONY DIAZ, CFM,
underserved communities. It is with the married. ♦
MS. LETICIA DELGADO,
December 2, 2005, marks the 25th anniversary of the martyrdom of the four SR. ESTELLE KROGER, CSJ,
U.S. churchwomen - lay missioner Jean Donovan, and Sisters Maura Clarke, FR. BOB JONES, CM,
MM, Ita Ford, MM, and Dorothy Kazel, OSU. Though we recall the tragedy of SR. THERESA HAN, OSF,
this day in 1980, we also lift up the spirit and dedication of these four FR. CHRIS PONNET,
women, and celebrate their legacies for peace. SR. MARTHA VEGA, SSS
A CHAPLAIN’S EXPERIENCE A Day Like Any Other Day
FATHER BOB JONES, C.M. by David Krieger, November 2005

T he chaplain's world can expand rapidly, in time and place,

beyond the present situation.
A woman was talking with me about the difficulty of not
“It was just a day like any other day.
The only thing that made it significant
was that the masses of the people joined in.”
eating for three days while she awaited tests or surgery. I was
tempted to go into the usual explanation of why such delays -- Rosa Parks
might happen, when suddenly she reminded herself of the By not moving,
time about twenty years earlier when, as a child, she had you began a movement,
been very hungry for a long period of time. Her family had like a cat stretching.
fled their village in Guatemala as indigenous people there Then suddenly alert.
were being killed; her family moved to a camp in Mexico.
By remaining seated,
After some time in horrible conditions there, her mother told
you stood for decency,
her to go to the U.S., which was against her father's wishes.
though your knees
She had survived, and could still smile!
Must have trembled.
I was happy to understand that this woman, a survivor,
would get through this present situation with a fair amount of By rejecting the law, you
peace, and I was glad that the hospital, and I, were able to accepted a higher law, and knew
assist her in her present struggle. ♦ Precisely what you were doing.

By praying silently, you spoke eloquently, in a language

TEAM DAYS AWAY Ordinary people understood.
SISTER ESTELLE KROGER, C.S.J.
By closing your eyes, you opened ours, and we could see

F or a couple of days once a year, the chaplains of our St.

Camillus Pastoral Care team "go aside" to Newport Beach.
We are blessed by Msgr. Bill Barry's hospitality in lending us
The path ahead.

his Balboa Cove home for our stay.
We spend this time enjoying time away from work, and
getting to know one another better. We pray and we play,
we discuss ministry as a team, and set goals for the coming
year.
We are renewed by this time away together and return to
ministry as instruments of God's Love and mercy to the "sick
poor" in our many hospitals,
We are truly blessed. ♦
By whispering No,
you shouted Yes, in a voice so sweet and low
That angels rushed in.
By holding your ground,
you changed our course, and we were
Never the same.
St Camillus Pastoral Care Center wishes to thank and
acknowledge the generous support of our many
individual, corporate, and foundation donors. The
following donors especially have made our Clinical
Pastoral Education initiative possible:

♦ Allen & Tiffany Kimball (Founding Donor)

♦ The Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Foundation

♦ Carrie Estelle Doheny Foundation

♦ Adams-Mastrovich Family Foundation

♦ William R. & Virginia Hayden Foundation

♦ Von der Ahe Foundation

♦ Tenet Foundation

♦ The Croul Family Foundation

 AVISIT
NON-PROFIT ORG.
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
LOS ANGELES, CA
PERMIT #31285
ST. CAMILLUS CENTER FOR PASTORAL CARE
1911 ZONAL AVENUE
LOS ANGELES, CA 90033-1032
STCAMILLUS@CIRCLESOFHOPE.ORG

N o man or woman of
good will can
renounce the struggle to
overcome evil with good.
This fight can be fought
effectively only with the
weapons of love. When
good overcomes evil, love
prevails and where love
prevails, there peace
prevails. This is the
teaching of the Gospel,
restated by the Second
Vatican Council: "the
fundamental law of
human perfection, and
consequently of the
transformation of the
world, is the new
I n view of the risks which humanity is facing in our time, all
Catholics in every part of the world have a duty to proclaim and
embody ever more fully the ''Gospel of Peace'', and to show that
commandment of love". acknowledgment of the full truth of God is the first, indispensable
8 December 2004, for condition for consolidating the truth of peace.
World Day of Peace 2005 8 December 2005, for World Day of Peace 2006
Pope John Paul II Pope Benedict XVI