The Accotink Unitarian Universalist Church Pastoral Care Team at was installed on Sunday, Oct. 1, 2006. The members are Kathy Brooks, Pam Cox, Hany Eldeib, JoAnn Kennedy Flanagan, Kitty Riordan, and Kathy Shinal, to assist the minister fulfilling pastoral care needs of the congregation.
The six lay members of the team spent a day in training at the end of August, learning much about the art of listening, the goals of pastoral care, and what it means to offer a ministry of presence. They meet monthly for support, communication, and ongoing training so that we all might grow in our ability to offer good care to the congregation.
The minister’s role of providing the pastoral care that her ministry here calls for will not change. The rest of the team will be able to fill in some of the gaps that the minister will not able to cover—visits for short hospitalizations, ongoing connections with those unable to get to church regularly, outreach following joys and sorrows, availability for general conversation and consultation, additional support in times of crisis. One of the team members, Kathy Brooks, will specialize in animal therapy visits with her dog, Bandit, something they have both been trained in outside of the church.
You can contact members of the Pastoral Care Team and request care through their e-mail address (pastoralcare@accotinkuuc.org) and via phone voice mail on church office phone line, 703-503-4579. (Messages can be left confidentially after office hours, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.) Both the phone and e-mail messages will be checked every 24 hours, so if you need immediate care, it is better to try to be in touch with our minister directly, but otherwise, this will be the best way to contact the team. They will also be doing some outreach to people in the congregation, so don’t be surprised if you hear from them.
This is an important and valuable venture and we thank those on the team and those who have supported it. We hope you will take advantage of the opportunity to give and receive care from one another.