Local pastors provided pastoral care for parishioners in hospital for many years.
After Miriam and Lydia undertook clinical pastoral education in either Canada or USA, the health care chaplaincy in the Lutheran Church in Slovakia started. It was in 2003. This ministry is integrated under the structure of Evangelical Diakonia so far. Lydia serves as the chaplain in the Children's Hospital, mainly on the Oncology Ward. Miriam serves at the University hospital. Now she is starting at oncology for adults. So there are 2 chaplains in the hospitals from the Lutheran church and we await one more chaplain this year who is finishing CPE in USA.

Hospital chaplaincy is authorized and fully paid by the Lutheran Church. The Lutheran Church acknowledged the privilege to have candidates for hospital chaplaincy, who undertook CPE programs in the abroad. We hope the church will create the own training program in the future.

Hospitals don’t support the chaplaincy by providing a chapel, office or phone in most places in Slovakia even though there were many chapels in the hospitals from the previous time. The period of communism either prohibited spiritual care or retained it at a very low level. Many chapels stayed in bad conditions.

Present situation

Until now hospital chaplaincy is not established by law in our country. Every church organizes it by itself. Many lay people from churches are involved. We saw the need to educate people so they can know how to approach sick and dying in hospitals. In October 2005 we started the first course for volunteers. It lasts until June 2006 and we hope they will find place in this ministry.

Situation in other churches

There was the first official meeting with Roman Catholic colleague chaplains this February. There are about 20 chaplains from the Roman Catholic Church. We are in a dialogue.
According our knowledge there are some other pastors from smaller churches who visit their parishioners in hospitals. They don’t enter the hospital officially for spiritual care as far as we know.

Miriam Prasilova
Lydia Nadova