CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Priests and chaplains of the Archdiocese of Chicago are risking their own health to pray alongside COVID-19 patients, and sometimes to administer last rites.
Anointing of the Last Rites is important to Catholics, and the Archdiocese has formed a group of priests and chaplains to administer these services in homes and hospitals — even as many patients are isolated from their families.
“We have about 25 of them. They’re under 60 years old, they’re all in good health. They speak a variety of languages — Spanish, English Polish,” Bishop Ron Hicks tells WBBM Newsradio’s Brandon Ison.
Volunteers are adhering to guidelines at the hospitals they visit and have been trained to use Personal Protective Equipment at other locations, such as parishioners’ homes.