JUST TO BE CLEAR, AND EVERY PRIEST IN THE DIOCESE OF SAVANNAH KNOWS THIS, THE SACRAMENT OF THE ANOINTING OF THE SICK AS WELL AS OTHER LAST RITES PRAYERS IS NOT TO BE DENIED TO ANYONE WHO IS SUFFERING FROM THE CORONAVIRUS BY ORDER OF OUR BISHOP

Any priest who has a restriction placed against him by the bishop, must nonetheless find a priest who will fulfill the requirement of a priest to visit someone dying in the hospital or at home, be it a coronavirus patient or someone with some other communicable disease or someone who is simply dying from natural causes or accident/injury.

RESTRICTIONS FOR WHO CAN FULFILL THIS MINISTRY

• No priest or deacon in the high-risk group (i.e., over 60).
• No priest or deacon with a chronic illness that places him at risk. For example: hypertension, diabetes, Crohn’s disease, any cancers, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, COPD, heart disease.
• These restrictions follow the healthcare guidance that indicate younger, healthier individuals are at a much-diminished risk of contracting a serious case of COVID-19.

ANOINTING OF THE SICK

• If this is performed in a hospital or healthcare facility, the guidelines for protective measures, including garments, prevail. Beware that most hospitals and healthcare facilities currently prohibit pastoral care visits inhibiting our ability to anoint the sick. We must abide by these directives because they are for our own health and safety.
• If absolutely unable to make a pastoral visit, find a creative manner to reach the patient (i.e. telephone call, video call, etc.).
• If this is not performed in a hospital or healthcare facility:

  • If available, latex gloves should be worn unless the patient or priest has an allergic sensitivity to latex.
  • Additionally, if available, protective eye wear (a pair of glasses will suffice) should be worn. Eyeglasses or goggles or eye protectors can be re-used BUT MUST be cleaned immediately after each visit with Lysol/Clorox wipes or washed with soap and water.
• All liturgical items should be sanitized before entering the home (oil stock, ritual book, pyx, etc.) and after leaving. Use bleach wipes or disinfectant for the sanitizing of supplies.
• The anointing may be done with a cotton-tipped swab or a cotton ball which is to be burned or buried after use.
• Do not contaminate the sacred oil. For each anointing, use a new cotton ball (or “Q-tip”) and new oil on the cotton. (You are also permitted to use the cotton ball, and not your thumb, to anoint the head.) In the case of pastoral necessity, the hands do not need to be anointed.
• If the priest uses his gloved hand, the glove is to be burned or buried after the visit.
• If Holy Communion is given, it is to be distributed in the hand.
• Maintain social distance (six feet) with everyone in the room, except the patient.
• Do not offer comfort with any physical contact.