Ministering to COVID patients

Shortly after Msgr. Patrick Schumacher became the pastor at Corpus Christi parish in Bismarck this past July, he became sick with COVID-19. Now that he has recovered, visiting Catholic patients with the virus at senior living facilities has become a new ministry for him.

Msgr. Schumacher began his new priestly assignment on July 1, coming from St. Wenceslaus in Dickinson and before that, the Church of St. Joseph in Mandan from 2001-2011. On July 24, he awoke with flu-like symptoms so he did not go into work that day. 

“I had a slight cough,” Msgr. Schumacher said. “It felt like I could not clear my throat.” He was tested, then quarantined at home. On July 27, the results came back positive. “I immediately notified Bishop Kagan as to how we should proceed and I directed our staff to go in for immediate testing,” he wrote on his Facebook page to let others know of the situation.

Contained

Fortunately, since he had stayed home, Msgr. Schumacher had not celebrated any of the weekend Masses at the parish. Because his last contact with the parish was Thursday the 23rd, the State Health Department determined that the church did not need to close.

“I had some fever and fatigue, but it did not seem too bad,” he said. “I thought, okay, so this is COVID. But seven days into it, I felt like I had been hit by a truck.” He had tremendous fatigue causing him to sleep 15-16 hours a day, fevers and low oxygen levels. Monsignor Schumacher did not lose his sense of smell, which is typical, but strangely, everything smelled like fish—even his soap.

Ten days after the symptoms had begun, Msgr. Schumacher was no longer contagious. “The  body might still slough off COVID cells, but they cannot be cultured so you are no longer considered contagious,” he explained. He slowly ventured back into the world on Aug. 12, but after his first Mass, he was exhausted. It took almost a month before he felt his energy return. “I lost six pounds and not until mid-September was I back where I had been with my exercise routine,” he said. His only treatment was eating well and lots of sleep.

Visiting others

Six weeks after Msgr. Schumacher was back celebrating Mass, a parishioner told him
about a relative dying of COVID in one of the community senior living facilities. Family members were not allowed in to visit. It occurred to him that having already had COVID, perhaps he could go into the facility and offer the sacrament of the anointing of the sick and an apostolic pardon. The apostolic pardon is an indulgence given for the remission of temporal punishment due to sin for those who have already been sacramentally forgiven.

Monsignor Schumacher received permission to enter the facility and despite already having had COVID, it was still required that he be completely covered in personal protective equipment. He had his own N95 masks which offer the highest level of filtration of airborne particles. In addition, he dressed up in booties on his shoes, a gown, a face shield, a cap and gloves. He was then able to reach the patient in time to bless her before she died. He later presided at the funeral.

While at the facility, Msgr. Schumacher wanted to visit other Catholic patients. Sister Idelle Badt, a pastoral care associate at Corpus Christi parish, found the names of other Catholic residents of senior living facilities who would appreciate a visit with monsignor. “Then, when I came back, I called the families to let them know what I had done,” he said. Since that first visit, he has continued seeing COVID patients in different facilities around Bismarck and Mandan.

“The nurses physically take me to patients,” he said. Many families are unable to visit with their loved ones. Those with rooms on the first floor often have family members visiting outside their windows.

Sometimes the last contact

“I’m often the last contact for their loved ones aside from health care professionals,” Msgr. Schumacher explained. “Some die shortly after and families want to know, ‘Was dad at peace?’ It’s the last memory of their mother or father or loved one.”

While at the senior living facilities, Msgr. Schumacher visits residents who are in the COVID section, as well as those who are not. Moving around a COVID unit is easy because they all have it so he can walk around freely, although with so much of his face covered, he has to identify himself to people. It is the non-COVID units where he begins the visits. There, the extra precautions required to follow going from room to room is especially exhausting, according to him.

One woman he anointed had been a parishioner while he was pastor at St. Joseph’s in Mandan. “Some of these people were my parishioners who I met 20 years ago that I have not seen for a while and they are dying. I just had a funeral for one of them in Mandan, at St. Joe’s. Anointing my parishioners, breaks my heart.”

He added, “By the time I get to the COVID unit, I am hot and trying to communicate with people talking through an N95 mask.” When Msgr. Schumacher returns home, his clothes go directly into the washing machine and he showers right way. The amount of energy it takes for his typical three-hour visits has given him tremendous appreciation and admiration for the men and women in the medical community. “A lot of people say, ‘This is their job,’ but the fact is that it’s a job I don’t want to do and don’t think I could do. They are doing a remarkable job.”

Grace of the sacrament

Msgr. Schumacher sees anywhere from 7-20 people per visit and estimates that he has probably anointed more than 100. Anointing of the sick can be administered to anyone who is sick, so a patient need not be near death, he explained. “Some are horrified at first,” he said. “One lady sitting up in her chair, was told, ‘This is Msgr. Schumacher.’ She responded, ‘Oh great!’ As if to say, ‘Am I that bad?’”

The sacraments are for the living, according to Msgr. Schumacher. “The grace of the sacrament of the anointing unites us with the passion of our Lord and unites us with the community of the Church and the Body of Christ,” he said. Sometimes he sees a patient who seems not to be conscious, but will respond to the blessing by making the sign of the cross.

“It is an unexpected reminder to me of the power of the sacrament of anointing and the apostolic pardon,” Msgr. Schumacher said. “I have been doing this for 27 years, but the pandemic has become very real when I’m walking around and people are dying and can’t have family around them. I realize that I represent the Church in a powerful way. I am the last person that some of these people will see. It is a very memorable time in my priesthood.”