Le Service d’accompagnement spirituel des personnes malades ou âgées à domicile (SASMAD), or Pastoral Home Care (PHC), as it is known in English, is a service offered to persons residing in the territory of the Catholic diocese of Montreal, including the island of Montreal, Laval, Repentigny, Saint‑Sulpice and l’Assomption.
Our service consists of individual home visits carried out by a trained volunteer for one hour each week, or according to the needs of the recipient. Our service is specifically for persons who need us to come to their homes, on account of their advanced age or illness or isolation, on a temporary or long-term basis. We reach out to them where they live, as they are unable to leave their homes. In short, our mission at SASMAD/PHC is to offer personal visits to those who are homebound, with the purpose of offering spiritual accompaniment and, in certain cases, religious support.
SASMAD/PHC strives to be a bearer of solace, hope and a caring and attentive ear. People may request our service themselves, or through a family member, a parish priest, a health professional, or through community organizations.
We answer YES
Inspired by the gospel of Saint Matthew, SASMAD/PHC was conceived as a missionary vocation from its very beginning. Everyone associated with SASMAD/PHC, both staff and volunteers, draw their inspiration from the passage in the Bible in which Jesus identifies with the sick, the suffering, the poor and the elderly, those often alone and excluded from the mainstream. He asks us to visit Him….and we answer YES to His call.
No matter what their beliefs are
This service of the Church has a duty to come to the aid of all who are sick or elderly, regardless of their personal beliefs or lifestyle, so that they may come to discover, through their tribulations, an understanding of the meaning of their life, with hope and personal freedom. Our visits are focused on an open discussion of their life story, their inner feelings and their expectations, all of this in an atmosphere that is caring and never judgmental.
We go forth and visit in the name of Jesus, (without proselytism)
SASMAD/PHC, even though it is a diocesan service of the Catholic Church of Montreal, does not proselytize. The purpose of our visits is not to convert or to do religious teaching of any sort. Our only wish is to extend a welcome to others with total respect for the dignity of the individual and whatever they choose to share with us.