The Bible reveals that at the beginning of our human story: “... God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness, and let them have dominion over the birds of the air and the fish of the sea, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’
So God created humankind in God’s image, in the image of God He created them, male and female God created them.”
(Gen 1:26-27, NRSV Catholic Edition).
The Hebrew word for this breath is ruah – the same word can be translated as spirit. The Church has always recognized that each person is body and spirit. Our mortal bodies are finite but our spirits live eternally.
When we encounter persons in the ministries of our agency, we recognize them as whole beings – body, mind and spirit (1Thess. 5:23). The Spiritual Care team seeks to support the spirituality of our clients and the staff who serve them as they address the holistic needs and concerns of those in care. Spiritual needs can be neglected in the day-to-day operations of care-giving because of the more obvious demands for physical and emotional support, but within the core of each person is their spirit that also needs to be nurtured.
The body, mind, and spirit all interact as one and the health of one part of a person affects the other two components. Catholic Social Services agency staff seek to care for each person in their unique totality, recognizing in all the same dignity God has assigned to every human person.
For more Information
The Spiritual Care team can be contacted through Susie Kasawal at Susie.Kasawal@cssalberta.ca (Central Region - Alberta), Deacon Guy Germaine at Deacon.Guy@cssalberta.ca or SR. MaryClare Stack at 780-232-2986.