I am blessed to be your Minister to the Sick and Homebound. I worked as a registered nurse for 30 years, 1970-2000 in hospital work and then office nursing work. I now do volunteer nursing in Walnut Hills monthly with the Sisters of Mercy. I have been an associate with the Mercy Order since 1999. I entered the Diocesan Ministry Development Program in March of 2002 and was commissioned for service as a lay minister in June 2004. I have been with St. Pius since June 2002, first working with Nancy Brewer as her assistant, and then assuming full responsibility of the ministry in December 2003. My nursing background and my training with the Diocese combine to give me the skills to facilitate this ministry.

I have been married to Mike Whelan for 35 years and we have 3 children. Michael Joseph is married to Christine Dunn Whelan. They have three children, Meg, Joe, and Grace. They live in Wilder Ky. Kevin is married to Ann Marie Flannagan Whelan and they live in Ft. Wright. Shauna, our youngest lives presently in Villa Hills.

The Ministry to the Sick involves many parishioners working together in varied activities. Our sick are visited regularly when in the hospital. The Eucharist is taken to our parishioners’ homes when they cannot get to church. We have a Communion Service on Sunday at both of the nursing homes within our parish, Brighton Gardens and Atria Summit Hills. Health South is visited every Friday with the Eucharist. We coordinate the Fish Fry dinners for the homebound via this ministry. We work with the grade school and CCD programs so that cards and remembrances can be brought to the sick and homebound. Our elderly in six different nursing homes are visited regularly. We also work with the committee to bring meals to our parishioners coming home from the hospital.

Our newest ministry is our prayer blanket ministry started by Dotty Hayes. Through the sewing of 25 women of the parish, lap-sized blankets are distributed to our sick, homebound and nursing home parishioners. The sewer prays for the recipient when she is making the blanket and Father Wehage blesses the blankets before they are distributed. This has become a concrete way of expressing the parish’s prayers and concern for our sick and homebound. We are covering them with prayer when prayer is most needed.

If anyone is interested in learning more about this ministry contact me at 331-6082 or via email at mjwhelan@fuse.net.

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