St. Aidan's Episcopal Church
Pastoral Care in Community
At St. Aidan’s we seek to care for one another as God cares for us. In addition to pastoral care offered by our clergy, community based pastoral care offers support in three areas. If you would like to connect with any of these groups or efforts, please feel free to reach out to the parish administer at office@staidansf.org
Support and Sustenance
This group focuses on concrete, everyday things we can do to support community members who may be ill or isolated. Prior to the pandemic, one group was gathering periodically to make and freeze soup for those who might need it due to illness or emergency. During the lockdown phase of the pandemic, we met periodically via Zoom to organize
support for folks who need extra assistance and connection. That support has included helping someone with light errands (e.g. grocery shopping), writing cards, dropping off a hot meal, or doing periodic check-in "buddy calls" over the phone.
Spiritual Care
Several St. Aidanites are trained as Eucharistic Visitors and can bring Communion to people who are are unable to attend worship in person.
ELM - End of Life Ministries
An outgrowth of a Christian Formation series in the spring of 2018, the ELM committee meets regularly to share wisdom and gather resources for members of the parish and their loved ones who are making decisions related to end of life care. Their ministry seeks to assist in three phases: before in life care planning, during and surrounding the time of death, and after death. While it is not ELM's role to be agents or personal helpers of those navigating these questions and circumstances, the group encourages parishioners to find helpers, aided by the resources and information ELM has gathered. They have put together a Resource Binder to assist in navigating these phases. A physical copy of the binder is available in the St. Aidan's office and a pdf link to it is coming to this website soon. In November of 2021, ELM organized an interfaith, neighborhood-based service to acknowledge the losses of COVID, which included the dedication of a bronze plaque, now placed in front of a small tree by St. Aidan's main doors, that reads "The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Lives lost, lives changed by COVID. Rev. 22:2." Also in 2021, ELM helped envision and create a banner in front of St. Aidan's that says "Together: We Grieve and Remember, We Struggle and Rise."
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On September 8, 2024 at 11:30 a.m. ELM sponsored a presentation at St. Aidan's by the social worker and psychotherapist Susan Halpern, author of The Etiquette of Illness: What To Say When You Don't Have the Words. Watch a recording of the workshop here
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In the spring and summer of 2023 ELM organized a three-part presentation series on End of Life Care and Decisions. The videos below are available with a password - please reach out to office@staidansf.org or rector@staidansf.org if you would like to access it.
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The handouts from Dr. Mileva Paulo Lewis' May 3 presentation are linked here.
Video of June 21 presentation by Dr. Mileva Saulo-Lewis is here
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Video of July 19 presentation by the Rev. Don Fox is here
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The handouts from the Rev. Don Fox's July 16 & 19 presentations are linked here
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Video of August 2 presentation by the Rev. Cameron Partridge is here
The handouts from Cameron's July 30 & August 2 presentations are linked here and here
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The Life Crisis / Emergency Form is linked here