FORT SMITH — People see Jared Bryson, vice president of mission at St. Edward Mercy Medical Center, as a health care executive, but he sees himself as a minister.
He sees his job as helping staff, patients and the community recognize the hospital as “a ministry within the Church” as well as a health care facility.
He directs an 18-month formation program for St. Edward board members and executives to help them incorporate Catholic social teaching and the heritage and tradition of Catherine McAuley and the Sisters of Mercy in all their decisions. Mercy Health System will eventually provide formation to all of its employees — medical, support, administrative and maintenance — so every worker will incorporate those values into the workday.
“My job is to help operationalize theology and make it faith seeking understanding in the true way in which it’s lived out,” Bryson said. “I am the one at the table who brings up questions about ethical and religious directives for Catholic health care services. I raise questions about how we carry out our ministry in relation to our tradition. How do we care for the poor?”
He directs a pastoral care staff, including the hospital’s new full-time Catholic chaplain, Father Vince Flusche.
“He has been a great help in helping our community in terms of having our sacramental needs met,” Bryson said.
Although the hospital had a sister, orthodox priests and other Christian ministers on its pastoral care staff, it had been without a full-time Catholic priest chaplain for two years.
Bryson grew up in a St. Louis Metro East suburb in the Diocese of Belleville. He earned his master’s degree in divinity at Aquinas School of Theology in St. Louis and is working on his doctorate in theology at Washington Theological Union. As coordinator of worship and student life at Aquinas, and, later, as director of admissions and financial aid, Bryson developed a passion for discovering the identity pieces of each ministry and using those pieces to bring that ministry to life. After two years at Aquinas, one of the professors of health care mission asked Bryson to consider health care ministry.
Bryson became the director of mission at Mercy St. Louis, which has 12,000 employees, 900 of them medical, in St. John Mercy Medical Center in Creve Coeur, Mo.
He joined St. Edward Mercy Medical Center in January.
“Mercy sees itself as one big hospital system. Through telemedicine, St. Edward patients can confer with pediatric specialists in Springfield and St. Louis, and choose to go to another Mercy hospital for specialized care,” Bryson said.
Through electronic records, patient records can be easily transferred to other hospitals within the system. And at every hospital, patients can feel assured that their care is being delivered according to Catholic social teaching.
To promote community outreach, the hospital holds Mercy Healthcare Week and works with programs such as River Valley Adoption Coalition. Bryson has begun employee food drives for the Community Clearinghouse and recently held a collection for St. John Medical Center in Joplin, Mo., after the May 22 tornado.
Bryson and his fiancée, Emily Janovec, a dietician working for Morrison Healthcare, met when they were working at St. John hospital. They are planning a November wedding at Our Lady of Providence Church in St. Louis and are still transitioning between their former and current locations. Bryson travels to St. Louis once or twice a month. He teaches in the permanent diaconate program in Belleville and serves on the diocesan liturgical commission working on the revised Roman Missal.
Bryson is eager to get involved in parish life in Fort Smith, where he currently attends Christ the King Church.
“I’m still trying to figure out where I fit outside of the hospital,” he said. “It’s a great place to be, but I want to be part and partner of the local Church.”
His educational background in spirituality and experience presenting workshops and classes to pastoral staff and diaconate candidates makes teaching a natural fit. He will be presenting a retreat at St. Scholastic Retreat Center next spring.
Recognizing that the Catholic population is much smaller in Fort Smith than in St. Louis, Bryson said, “This is my first mission territory in a mission land. I’m loving it. There are great opportunities here to bring the healing ministry of Jesus to life.”
