Pirates Chaplain offers 24/7 Compassionate Phone and Internet Ministry to Help Amid COVID-19

When staff and residents need spiritual care at the Beaver County nursing facility with Pennsylvania’s worst COVID-19 outbreak, they contact Father Bill Schwartz.

“Whatever is on their heart when they call, I believe that I receive more from the person calling me than what I give back,” Father Schwartz, 77, said of his 12-year ministry at the Brighton Rehabilitation and Wellness Center in Beaver (formerly Friendship Ridge).

The same applies to his 12 years as the “Pirates Padre,” chaplain to Pittsburgh’s Major League Baseball team.  Ordained May 18, 1968, he “retired” in 2012, but continued ministering to the Pirates and at Brighton Rehab.  He lives at St. Monica Parish, Chippewa.
Father Schwartz believes that divine intervention spared him from the virus, which has infected more than 300 people at the Brighton facility, killing 71 as of this week. 

On March 10, he took a rare vacation to Bradenton, Fla., for Pirates spring training. When COVID-19 cut it short, he intended to go home to resume his duties at the wellness center. His friends, Mike and Jodi Gerace, persuaded him to stay with them in Florida a few days longer.

“Thank God I listened to them -- God was speaking through them. If I hadn’t, I would have been exposed to multiple cases of COVID-19,” he said.

When he returned, the center was locked down -- though he tried to talk his way in. Jay Hartle, a friend and chief clinical officer at Personal Care Medical Associates, which provides medical care at Brighton, ordered him quarantined at home to offer compassionate ministry by phone and Internet.

“He said ‘The people need you more to be there to help them through this crisis, knowing that many spiritual and personal issues will surface.  What good would you be to everyone if you contract COVID-19 or you die?’” Father Schwartz recalled.

“Jay asked me to be on call 24/7 beginning March 19, the feast of Saint Joseph, my patron. That’s how it’s been, trust me -- little sleep and not much of an appetite.”   

Father Schwartz, Hartle said, “has been doing a whole lot of work for people at Brighton, both patients and staff, and also with parishioners who are having a rough time with all of this.”
He has made himself available to members of Hartle’s medical practice, who are stressed and grieving.

“We are losing loved ones, patients of many years who have become like family to us,” Hartle said.

People call, email, text and Skype Father Schwartz around the clock for prayer, advice or just to know that someone listens and cares about them. Friends shop for him.

By Easter Sunday Father Schwartz was restless and wanted to go out, but “God wanted me to stay put,” he said.

Brooke, a nurse from Brighton, texted a family’s request for him to pray with a patient, which he did on Facetime. Brooke placed the call, appearing on screen in full protective gear.

“I saw the face of the Resurrected Jesus in Brooke’s eyes -- a display of Jesus’ love, care, compassion and concern for this child of God,” Father Schwartz said. “This image will never leave me. Seeing Christ through her eyes strengthened my faith and commitment to ‘believe there is good in the world.'"

His greatest personal disappointment during quarantine has been the inability to baptize – particularly his godson, Jude, infant son of Pirates pitcher Trevor Williams and his wife, Jackie.

As much as he wants to celebrate the sacraments publicly again, “It won’t be as it was. If we don’t have a vaccine with this virus, there will have to be social distancing at Mass and for all seven sacraments,” he said.

“We will all be better off for it if we adjust to this new way of life and make the Church and the world a better place to be.”

Many people tell him that they are praying more, growing closer to family and have a renewed longing for the sacraments. But he also sees the devastation of job loss and stress-related blow-ups in families. He suspects that many people who feel fine now will experience post-traumatic stress later.

“I will be there for everyone who comes to me,” he said.

“Today I choose to focus my gaze on the source of hope and light -- Jesus.  Fear causes one to take your eye off of the source of your strength.

“He’s giving us a chance to become more in tune with him. He is bringing us back to realize our values of faith, values of family life, of the sacraments, of living a holy life. And having this new life can be as simple as taking a breath of God’s Spirit.”

Photo: Father Schwartz celebrates Mass at St. Monica Church that was streamed on YouTube.