Chaplaincy, BCC

Mary is a Board Certified Chaplain with the National Association of Catholic Chaplains, and has completed 5 CPE units, at the  Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, in NH, as well as with St Anthony Hospital in Lakewood, CO. Mary is from Colorado originally, but has spent a significant part of her time throughout the last 6 years, in New England. She has extensive Chaplaincy experience in both Hospice and Hospital settings. She currently resides in Summit County, Colorado, and is a Chaplain with the Summit County Medical Center in Frisco, CO. She has extensive experience in Level 1 Trauma  ED Hospital care, ICU, Pediatric, and End of Life specialty care.

Statement of Ministry

I strive to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ as I work in the ministry of chaplaincy and pastoral care in the healthcare setting.

This statement is informed by tapping into my most authentic self, and my Catholic faith tradition, as a follower of Christ. I strive to embrace the Divine in all. I am a believer in the true sense of the word, Catholic, meaning, "Universal." I believe our God desires to stay connected to all human beings. I believe the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ to be demonstrative of God's desire for all to return to the state of pure love, peace, and union with God.

I believe, as a Roman Catholic Chaplain, in the Church's mandate to serve others. I consider my service to be that of a healthcare Chaplain. I bring my work to people by allowing myself to be fully present to another, in joy, pain, ease, hardship, suffering, satisfaction, life and death. I practice and possess the ability to meet human beings at their most vulnerable and intimate times of life, and in death. I strive to meet patients, families, and loved ones where they are at, without an agenda of my own. I practice the skills of active listening, clarification, affirmation, and reflection.

At times, this means I have to reach into my own pain to understand the pain of others. I am required to utilize my own life experience, wisdom, and gifts. Like Christ, I strive to find compassion through empathy and love. I endeavor to minister to all people, regardless of faith, tradition, spiritual interest, or lack of it. I practice an interfaith model of care. I offer support, emotionally, as well as spiritually, to any and all people.

I value my two-year training in The Rule of Benedict as a Spiritual Director, my Divinity Degree, and the personal practices which I have developed through the processes, as well as a regular yoga practice. Utilizing these disciplines, I enjoy a relationship of personal contact with Christ through meditation, contemplative prayer, silence, and Scripture. My theological education, inquisitive intellect, and love of the spiritual practices, all inform my ministry. I strive to yoke myself to the Divine through self-care. I work at keeping myself centered, calm, and healthy in body, mind, and soul. As a consequence, I am available with fresh life, vitality, and energy, each day.

I respect and cherish each individual as a unique "soul print" or a one of a kind creative "thought of God," who was brought into physical manifestation out of creative love. I am honored and privileged to be called to this profound and special work. I strive to go forth boldly.