Bishop Folda dedicates chapel at CHI Lisbon Health

On Oct. 1, Bishop Folda visited CHI Lisbon Health, toured the facility, and presided over a special Mass to bless the altar and to celebrate the dedication of the chapel to St. Catherine of Siena.

CHI (Catholic Health Initiative) Lisbon Health is the Catholic Healthcare Ministry in Ransom County. In 2019, CHI joined with Dignity Health to become CommonSpirit Health, the nation’s largest non-profit healthcare provider. CHI Lisbon is a 25 bed Critical Access Hospital with a Level V Trauma Center and Clinic.

CHI Lisbon Health is unique among its Midwest Division in that it was not founded by a religious community, rather, it was initially founded by Lutheran Hospitals and Home Society in 1952 and was later purchased by CHI in 2002. It is our Catholic Healthcare Ministry that sets all CommonSpirit Healthcare facilities apart. Commonspirit Health’s Mission states, “At CommonSpirit Health, we make the healing presence of God known in our world by improving the health of the people we serve, especially those who are vulnerable, while we advance social justice for all.” 

As the Mission Integration Leader and Human Resources Manager, my role is to nurture the Catholic identity of our ministry, to reach out to patient and staff in pastoral matters, and to ensure that we are living out our mission and values in our respect for the dignity of all with compassion, integrity, and excellence.

At the request of Father Scott Sautner, we discerned St. Catherine of Siena as patroness of our chapel. The image of St. Catherine in the chapel depicts the Church, represented as a boat, on her shoulder. She is bowed under the weight of it, and you can see the papal flag on the mast. There was a great deal of suffering in the Church of St. Catherine’s time, and through prayer, faithful suffering, intercession, bold speech, and courageous action, she helped to bear the Church through that time, as we are all called to do. She also served the poor and cared for victims of the plague. For these reasons, she is an excellent patroness for Catholic Healthcare today. We too are faced with many challenges, and staying faithful to our Catholic heritage continues to require great prayer, bold speech, courageous action, and faith-filled suffering.

It was a joy to have Bishop Folda; Father Sautner, pastor of churches in Lisbon and Gwinner; and Father Chris Markman, pastor of churches in Enderlin, Fingal, and Sheldon, celebrate the Eucharist, bless the altar, and join us in dedicating our chapel. It is in the chapel that the beating heart of our ministry is found—Jesus, in the Blessed Sacrament. He is the divine healer alongside whom every doctor, nurse, aide, dietician, technician, environmental service person, and administrator works to provide hope and healing to all who enter our facility. We encourage all our patients, visitors, and staff to visit Jesus in the chapel as often as they are able.