The mission of parish nursing is the intentional integration of the practice of faith with the practice of nursing so that people can achieve wholeness in, with, and through the community of faith in which parish nurses serve.
Root Assumption
Parish Nursing is rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition, consistent with the basic assumptions of all faiths, that we care for self and others as an expression of God's love.
Emphasizing Integration of Body/Mind/Spirit
The concept of Parish Nursing has its roots in the deaconal ministry of the early post-resurrection church. The title deacon, derived from the Greek term diakonia meaning "to serve" was given to women and men whose responsibility it was to visit and care for the sick in the way Jesus had done. Not only did these deacons and deaconesses care for those who had physical needs, but in the manner of Jesus, they also attended to the emotional and spiritual needs of their faith communities.
During medieval times, the ministry of healing was taken over by monks and nuns, who turned their monasteries into hospitals. The care given focused more on physical needs, but the care provided was done so in the manner of Jesus, as a ministry of service.
In more recent times, the ministry of healing within the church was continued by religious orders of women and men, who established hospitals and extended care facilities. In these facilities, physical and emotional care were provided, but attention was also paid to the spiritual health of the patients as demonstrated by the creation of Pastoral Care Departments. Since the 1980's as the concept of health promotion has become more recognized as a focus of health care providers, the concept of the Parish Nurse has been revitalized within the faith community. While this concept is not so new given that it has roots back to the time of the early church, it is a new concept for a new time in the history of health care in the United States and it marks a new kind of collaboration between hospitals and faith communities.
In the Archdiocese of Detroit, the Parish Nurse Ministry began in the late 1980's at St. Luke and St. Raymond Parish. Within several years, St. Charles Borromeo began a Parish Nurse Ministry in collaboration with Amicare, a Home Health Care agency sponsored by Mercy Health Services (now Trinity Health). Soon after, St. John Hospital and St. Joseph Mercy in Macomb established Parish Nurse Ministry programs in collaboration with faith communities in their geographic areas. Today, there are numerous parishes with Parish Nurse Ministry programs, which are directly supported by the major hospitals and health systems in the Archdiocese of Detroit.
