By Diane Ney June 29, 2011 ( Volume 80 , No. 4 )

An interview with the Rev. Michael Marrett, chaplain to the Washington Hospital Center.

 

WW: Where is the chapel located in the hospital?

 

MARRETT: The chapel is located on the ground floor in Room 1B33. Let me give you some history regarding the chapel. What is known as the Washington Hospital Center is the combination of three smaller hospitals: Emergency Hospital, Garfield Hospital and the Episcopal Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital. The Episcopal Hospital became a part of Washington Hospital Center in 1968.

 

WW: So there has been an Episcopal presence at Washington Hospital Center from the beginning?

 

MARRETT: Yes, and even more to the point is that the Episcopal Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital had its own chapel, and that chapel was taken apart and reconstructed at the Washington Hospital Center.

 

WW: This is the original chapel, then. And is it still exclusively Episcopalian?

 

MARRETT: No, the chapel is staffed Roman Catholic and Protestant. We have a service in the morning and on Sundays, primarily for the staff and relatives of the patients. And I’m there every Wednesday for counseling and visits to the wards. My specialty is visiting the rooms of patients, both Episcopalians and others. Sometimes I have requests from clergy in Maryland and Virginia to visit their parishioners.

 

WW: How long have you been doing hospital ministry and what is it about this ministry that appeals to you?

 

MARRETT: I have been doing this ministry for 50 years. This is my 13th year at Washington Hospital Center. I love this ministry, and I feel fulfilled and blessed as I visit sick persons each week comforting, counseling, praying and administering the sacraments.   

 

WW: What is it patients are looking for when they or their families request you make a visit?

 

MARRETT: They’re looking for many things. They’re looking for the presence of God, they are also looking for prayer, and they’re looking for consolation.

 

WW: It must be difficult when you’re dealing with a terminal illness or other tragic situations. How do you deal with those?

 

MARRETT: I approach the situation with reverence, sensitivity, openness and prayer. I listen to the patient. Assure him or her of the presence of God and of his promises of comfort and love. At these times, sharing my faith and, where possible, my experience, does bring peace and some closure.

 

WW: How do you counsel the families? Does what you tell them differ from what you tell the patients?

 

MARRETT: No, it doesn’t. You listen very carefully with a sympathetic, calm and very supportive presence. You encourage them to be mindful of God’s love, healing power and grace. The hospital is an institution where wounds are bound up, broken bones are set, illnesses are treated, and, by God’s grace, healing occurs, when and where possible. A strong, prayerful, loving, supportive family assists greatly in the healing process. We are all healers, to a certain extent, and we all bring comfort and cheer and hope to patients.

 

WW: How do you deal with the family’s pain when the patient doesn’t heal?

 

MARRETT: It is a difficult thing to be with a family who is undergoing pain and grief, when a patient does not heal. The doctors and nursing staff are healing instruments. They do their utmost. God knows best. Trust in him to know what is the wisest decision. Let go and allow God’s will to be done. When I was a very young priest, I was assisting an elderly priest who was comforting a family who had lost a child within a few hours of the child’s birth. That is very, very difficult. It is a fact that a baby who is born into this world, who survives for a few minutes or hours, closes his or her eyes and ceases to be alive has accomplished the purpose for which he or she was born. God gave the parents and family of that infant a gift, a great blessing. For the rest of their lives they will remember that precious, blessed bundle of joy.