Anointing of the Sick is available upon request.  Please call the parish office during office hours if you or someone you know wishes to be anointed.  If there is an urgent need for an anointing outside of office hours, please call the after hours sacramental phone number (920-260-8201) and someone will respond as soon as possible.  Fr. Chuck’s email is cwrobel@stcatofsiena.org.

The Church recommends that Catholics receive Anointing of the Sick when in danger of death from illness or old age, or before a serious operation.  In each of these situations, a person may feel afraid or anxious.  Receiving the sacrament will give him/her the spiritual healing, increased faith, peace, and strength needed to endure suffering.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) teaches that: “By the grace of the sacrament the sick person receives the strength and the gift of uniting himself/herself more closely to Christ’s Passion: in a certain way the person is consecrated to bear fruit by configuration to the Savior’s redemptive Passion.  Suffering, a consequence of original sin, acquires a new meaning; it becomes a participation in the saving work of Jesus.” (CCC 1521).  Just as the members of the Church are praying for the sick person, he/she is helping others through their suffering.  “By celebrating this sacrament the Church, in the communion of saints, intercedes for the benefit of the sick person, and he, for his part, through the grace of this sacrament, contributes to the sanctification of the Church and to the good of all men for whom the Church suffers and offers herself, through Christ to God the Father” (CCC, 1522).

Anointing of the Sick is not the same as the Last Rites.  Last Rites are still given in the Catholic Church.  They are distinct from the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick.  The Last Rites refer to a set of prayers and sacraments given specifically to those who are clearly near death, including Viaticum (Holy Communion given to the dying) and final confession.  In contrast, the Anointing of the Sick is a sacrament for those seriously ill but not necessarily dying, aimed at spiritual and sometimes physical healing (CCC 1499-1500).  While a person near death may receive both,  Anointing of the Sick is broader and not limited to the dying. 

We also have an anointing weekend in the fall where all those in attendance who wish to be anointed can receive the sacrament.