Health communication in times of crises: Catholic Priests’ perspectives on Anointing of the Sick

ABSTRACT

The present study examined the Anointing of the Sick (AOS), one of the Roman Catholic Church’s sacraments, administered when individuals are in poor health, facing a major medical procedure, and/or facing death. As recovery is unknown at the time tie of AOS, we studied AOS as a final conversation (FC; Keeley, 2004, 2007, Keeley & Generous, 2017). Based on surveys from US Priests, primarily located in the Northeast, we identified the FC topics discussed between Priests, families, and the sick/dying during AOS. Findings underscore the significance of studying EOL communication in the Catholic Church and its applicability in Priestly formation. This work informs Keeley’s FC theme of messages of religious faith/spiritual beliefs.

Keywords:

• Catholic
• end of life
• final conversations
• health communication
• priests

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Dr. Qin Zhang (Department of Communication, Fairfield University). This work is dedicated to the memory of Father Peter Raposo, who spent his life helping others and studying Communication in the Roman Catholic Church. Raposo was a Catholic priest of the Society of the Missionaries of St. Francis Xavier and communication doctoral student at Ohio University. He died unexpectedly on March 13, 2015, at the age of 43 and was posthumously awarded a PhD in 2016.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 According to the Gallup Poll, in 2020, an average of 48% of Americans stated religion is “very important” in their lives, and another 25% rated it “fairly important,” including 25% who said they are Catholic. Although the coronavirus pandemic had created chaos in every sphere of America at the time of the survey, it did not alter the significance of religion in Americans’ lives or affect their religious identification (Brenan, 2021). Furthermore, according to the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS, (2021)), from February 2020 to November 2021, 890,990 US citizens lost their lives due to the coronavirus pandemic, which shows the amount of FCs and EOL communication occurred in tens of thousands of families due to the loss of beloved ones.

2 Data were collected during the 2021–22 academic year, during the COVID-19 pandemic, and not far from the first hot spot¹

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Joseph Dious

Joseph Dious (MA, Fairfield University, 2022) is a doctoral student in the Scripps College of Communication at Ohio University and a Roman Catholic priest.

Sean M. Horan

Sean M. Horan (Ph.D., West Virginia University, 2009) is Professor and Chair of the Department of Communication at Fairfield University.