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EUCHARISTIC MINISTRY

Nursing home resident serves others 

On a recent Wednesday morning at Evergreen Commons Nursing Home in East Greenbush, Debbie Divorl wheeled into a parlor and was spotted by a fellow resident, a 100-year-old woman with limited verbal ability. 

The woman had seen a pyx - a small, round container for communion hosts - hanging from a string around Ms. Divorl's neck. Her face lit up and she began to gesture eagerly toward her mouth, eager to receive the Eucharist. 

Since Ms. Divorl was commissioned as a eucharistic minister in May, she has become familiar figure at Evergreen. She delivers communion and solace to about 45 residents in three different long-term units at Evergreen. 

Ms. Divorl, a resident of the center, refuses to let her wheelchair prevent her from serving God and helping others. She was commissioned by Rev. R. Adam Forno on May 7, but is not new to distributing the Eucharist: In the 1980s, she regularly ministered at St. Joseph's Church, a traditionally German parish in the Yorkville neighborhood on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. During that time, she and the other ministers took turns bringing the sacrament to patients at a nearby hospital. 

Inside job
Now, she is both resident and visitor.

"What I'm doing is not that different, it's just been a long time," Ms. Divorl explained, adding that this time, "it's from the vantage point of a wheelchair."

Ms. Divorl says her wheelchair does not hinder her ability to serve. During her first conversation with Father Forno about the re-commissioning, he asked how she would manage to hold the Eucharist while moving about Evergreen Commons in her chair. 

Ms. Divorl responded with a joke about the impracticality of men: "Father, it's easy to see you're not a woman."

Her solution was simple: With the pyx hanging from her neck, she can wheel around with two hands. 

"It's a good thing the Church and society are realizing people who are differently-abled are not necessarily useless," she said.

Prior to Ms. Divorl's commissioning, the sole eucharistic minister commissioned to Evergreen Commons was Bill McLoughlin of The Parish of St. John the Evangelist and St. Joseph in Rensselaer. A longtime eucharistic minister in his own parish, he began bringing communion to a friend at Evergreen Commons in 2007. 

As more and more Catholic residents, including Ms. Divorl, expressed interest in receiving, he was soon ministering to nearly 80 residents. 

Stepping up
"It was far too much for me," said Mr. McLoughlin, who approached Ms. Divorl about assisting with the ministering. "I mentioned it to Debbie, and it has been just wonderful. She is very familiar with everyone."

He joked that her assistance has "cut my workload in half. She's just a wonderful person. She'll do anything for anyone."

Ms. Divorl credits Mr. McLoughlin, Father Forno, and the Evergreen Commons staff for their assistance and openness to the idea. 

"If it weren't for the people who work here being open to the fact that a resident could minister, none of this would be happening," she said.

"It's a very humbling experience to do this," she added. "People are very happy to be able to receive the Eucharist, and I am very happy to be able to give it to them."

(06/25/09) [[In-content Ad]]

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