I. Pastoral Ministry to individual sick persons.
Recommendation: identify only one priest per parish or religious community to make sick calls (healthy, no chronic respiratory ailments, not diabetic, no heart or kidney problems). Negotiate with barangay for extra quarantine pass for priest assigned to sick calls.
A. Sacraments
For all sacraments:
- If in hospital: coordinate with and follow advice of hospital administration and attending physicians/nurses as well as family. Prioritize medical advice over wishes of family. If we have a Catholic chaplain in the hospital, let the chaplain do the ministry.
- Follow basic rules for self-protection and protection of others: –
- Wear mask (preferably N-95 but surgical is acceptable);
- Wash and sanitize hands;
- Follow social/physical distancing rules;
- Cough or sneeze into elbow, not into hand.
- Sanitize sacramental and liturgical paraphernalia before and after use (soap & water if possible, 70% alcohol if in the field)
1. Mass and Eucharist
- Administer by dropping host into hand, not in mouth; avoid hand-to-hand contact.
- If patient cannot receive by hand, administer in mouth but sanitize hands before and after .
- For COVID-19 patients:
- use personal protective equipment (PPE, required in hospitals) and discard afterward;
- make sure you are able to retrieve the host with latex gloves (put host in corporal if retrieving from pyx is difficult);
- ask for help from hospital staff in removing and disposing of PPE.
- Coordinate with and follow advice of hospital administration regarding celebration of Mass for hospital community.
2. Confession
- If confession is not possible, encourage and help the sick to make good act of contrition by phone or online connection.
- For in-person confessions:
- Offer at set times, or on request.
- Encourage patient to be direct; do not counsel. If patient really needs counseling, arrange for a telephone or video call after confession.
- If patient cannot speak clearly, be creative, using yes/no questions and asking patient to signal response with hands or eyebrows.
- Have supply of masks ready to offer to patients with no masks.
- Have disinfectant ready in confessionals and disinfect before and after use.
3. Anointing of the sick
- The laying on of hands may be done without physical contact on the head of the sick.
- Sanitize the oil stock before and after each anointing to avoid contamination of the sacred oil.
- A cotton ball or cotton buds/tips can be used instead of the thumb for anointing. For each anointing, use a new cotton ball/tips and new oil on the cotton.
- It is permitted that only the forehead be anointed. In case of pastoral necessity, the hands need not be anointed.
- After the anointing, cottons used and cotton with oil from the stock should be properly disposed by burning at a suitable time.
- For communion of the sick and viaticum, enough consecrated hosts must be brought to avoid unnecessary contamination of the host/s.
4. Commendation of the dying, final commendation.
- The Apostolic Pardon, to which a plenary indulgences is attached, is given for those at the point of death.
- Bring a minimum of liturgical paraphernalia; wear stole on clerical shirt only.
- For final commendation, say rite outside patient’s room.
- No need to bless with holy water.
B. Pastoral accompaniment of sick and COVID-19 patients
- Conduct visits by cellphone or video call as much as possible.
- Guidelines for visits:
a) Make known to the community that you are available to visit; make cellphone number available.
b) Discreetly find out where COVID-19 patients are located in the hospital or in the community and take necessary precautions.
c) Limit visits to 15 minutes each.
d) Have prayer materials ready to give out electronically or in person to patient & family.
e) Record all visits immediately afterwards.
C. Special preparations for in-person sick calls if necessary.
1. Sick call kit especially for COVID-19 patients.
- Easy to wash and sanitize;
- Minimum of paraphernalia for each visit;
- Alcohol or other effective disinfectant for sanitizing in field;
- No unnecessary personal items.
2. Spiritual preparation for visit: ask for God’s strength and protection for yourself and family.
3. Psychological preparation: ask attending physicians/nurses or family about condition of patient so you may know what to expect and plan accordingly.
4. Prior preparations to re-entry into residence:
- Footbath near entrance (1 part bleach to 10 parts clean water), drying rugs next to footbath, space prepared for outdoor footwear, indoor footwear prepared nearby in a separate clean space;
- Hand sanitizer and disinfectant near entrance;
- Box near entrance for items brought on sick call;
- Dedicated decontamination bathroom (nearest to entrance) with fresh set of clothes ready and pail of water, bleach (one part bleach to ten of water), and detergent ready to receive clothing worn to sick call;
- Prior arrangements with household companion for opening doors to house and to decontamination bathroom just before priest arrives;
- Prior arrangements if possible for living space separated from others in the household.
5. Protocols when leaving house:
- Wear protective clothing (long-sleeved shirt, long pants) and mask; wear mask just before you leave.
- Avoid public transportation (drive, bike, or walk to and from sick call).
6. Protocols during visit:
- Sanitize hands after touching any object; do not touch face with unsanitized hands.
- Limit visit to 15 minutes if possible.
- Use PPE for COVID-19 patients in hospital; ask hospital staff for PPE, for help in removing, and for help in disposing.
7. Protocols after visit:
- Warn household of arrival, so doors can be opened and household members can avoid your path into the decontamination bathroom.
- Leave footwear outside door, or use footbath if not possible to leave outside.
- Leave all items brought to sick call (glasses, keys, cellphone, bags, sick call kit) in box near entrance for later disinfection
- Bathe upon entry; soak worn clothing in pail of water, detergent, and bleach.
- Sanitize all items brought in from sick call (glasses, cellphone, sick call kit, surfaces of all other items); use disposable latex gloves while sanitizing; discard latex gloves into separate closed waste bin lined with two garbage bags).
- Ministering to COVID-19 positive persons.
- Wear surgical mask (dispose in separate closed waste bin).
- Disinfect all surfaces you touch.
- Do not share utensils, clothing, towels, or bed linen with others.
- Wash clothing, towels, and bed linen frequently, if possible with bleach and in hot water (60 degrees) if in machine.
- Monitor yourself and self-quarantine once you experience symptoms.
II. Health care for sick.
- Provision of spaces for quarantine of PUIs, PUMs, and COVID-19+ (especially for the poor): Churches, parochial schools, retreat houses.
- Provision of medicines to poor for managing COVID-19 symptoms.
III. Care for health workers.
- Support for material needs: donation for food, nutritious drinks, PPEs.
- Pastoral accompaniment via cellphone or video call (by elderly priests and sisters who cannot visit the sick themselves).
IV. Health care for priests, archdiocesan staff, parish staff.
These are in addition to or in lieu of the usual benefit of free hospitalization at RCAM hospitals, which may not be available at this time due to the volume of other patients.
- Dissemination of information about preventive and COVID-19 care through archdiocesan social communications ministry and parish ministries.
- Preventive and symptomatic care through provision of health care kits (multivamins, disinfectant, medicines for managing symptoms).
- Quarantine for priests, lay archdiocesan staff, and parish staff exhibiting symptoms. (Consider San Carlos Seminary for priests, LayForce for laity. Bahay-Pari is not advisable because of the presence of elderly residents susceptible to COVID-19.)
- Adequate staff for quarantine (not necessarily professional, but trained in basic management of COVID-19).
NB: These guidelines have been prepared by Fr. Jun Abogado and Fr. Jason Laguerta and their teams and have been approved by the Board of Consultors
+ Bishop Broderick Pabillo
Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese of Manila March 26, 2020
