PRINCE ALBERT — Ministry to long-term care (LTC) homes is shared by all churches. Often a local Saskatchewan Health Authority employee, usually from the recreation department, will co-ordinate weekly public services, sometimes on Sunday, but otherwise on a weekday.
SHA employees co-ordinate and gather the different residents, assist with the sound system, and turn pages so residents can follow the hymns. Significantly, in towns where worship leaders are unavailable, an SHA employee may even lead the service, or use video or audio resources, like music, to do the same. This was common during the pandemic. Leading worship would be impossible without SHA staff.
There are concerns with policy and culture change. For example, new residents may be less familiar with the older hymns, or the older style of church worship. In the future, there will be even more unchurched residents. Ministers may ask, What will worship look like as the religious background of residents change? How do we minister to newer residents?
Indeed, there is also increasing religious literacy amongst the population at large. Ministers will need to communicate with public servants who are not familiar with the old style of church worship. If they are Christian, they most identify with new styles of church worship, .i.e. the praise and worship style, and unfamiliar with older styles of worship.
Other than the ministerial service, Anglican ministers also provide Holy Communion. This is a longstanding practice, with special consideration to “shut-ins” and those living in long-term care. Clergy will record these services in the vestry book, a book that records the number of communicants and services held.
For example, the SHA policy on the common cup. Initially, this was a policy in response to the novel coronavirus pandemic; currently, there is no general policy on the common cup. However, some care homes will continue to implement a local ban and will provide individual cups to ministers and give other directions to the minister.
This goes against the Anglicans practice of using the common cup. But Anglicans also want to find ways to work within the public sphere, not against it. The solution is easy, if not ideal: only administer the body or use intinction. Records show Holy Communion services going back to at least the 1960s. While culture changes, the commitment to serve residents and staff of SHA remains the same.
