Bringing Christ's loving care to people in need

Thank you for your interest in our Stephen Ministry at St. Francis Parish.

Stephen Ministry is a one-to-one, Christ centered, strictly confidential lay ministry which provides care to people who are hurting and experiencing difficulties in their lives. This could be due to grief, illness, job loss, strained relationships, isolation, as well as many other life challenges.
 
The organization has been in existence since 1975 and has provided training and resources to thousand of parishes and congregations  worldwide.  
 
All of our ministers have carefully and prayerful discerned if this ministry was right for them and are anxious to help others as care-givers. 
 

More About Stephen Ministers

Stephen Ministers are specially trained, lay Christians, who provide emotional and spiritual care to person facing a crisis such as grief, loneliness, divorce, hospitalization, terminal illness, job loss and more.  

Stephen Ministers are not counselors or therapists.  They will not try to fix a problem; nor will they run errands and do chores.

Our Pledge of Confidentiality

Everything a caregiver shares with a Stephen Minister is confidential.  Even within our team, a care giver's name and specific details about their situation are never mentioned.

The only people who will ever know the identity of a care receiver are Father Kevin Sepe (administrator),  the Stephen Minister providing the care, and our three Stephen Ministry leaders.  This pledge of confidentiality will only be broken if there is a risk of self-harm.
 

Contact St. Francis Stephen Ministry

We are happy to help.  Should you wish to receive support from a Stephen Minister, you will be carefully matched with one of our Stephen Ministers after first meeting with our Referrals Coordinator, Sharon Coram.   Our other two ministry leaders are Paula Bain and Karen Dibona . These three lay leaders oversee a group of nearly 20 specially trained Stephen Ministers at St. Francis.

 To learn how the Stephen Ministry at St. Francis might help you, contact Sharon confidentially by email or leave her a message in the office at 978-452-6611.

Email Dracut Stephen Ministry

Exceptions

Please note the ministry does not do chores, run errands, provide transportation to appointments; however, we may be able to find referring agencies to assist in that need.  We are also not trained to provide care for minors, people with addictions, or serious mental health issues.

Go back to Groups/Ministries

Learn More about the worldwide Stephen Ministry 

Learn more about Stephen Ministries