STAMFORD—During the COVID-19 pandemic, Father Matthew Mauriello, chaplain of the Knights of Columbus Orinoco Assembly #126, has been serving the sick and dying at St. Camillus Center in Stamford.
“We are so fortunate to have him during this pandemic,” says Marjorie Simpson, senior executive director at the St. Camillus Center, explaining how Father Mauriello would go room to room to visit residents.
“With this coronavirus situation, families of the residents were not allowed hold their hand as they were dying,” says Father Mauriello, explaining how, after serving at the center for years, he had acquired contact information of resident’s older children and built up relationships with them.
Thomas Kolenberg, a member of St. Augustine Council #41 in Stamford tells a story of how he found out his mother was COVID-positive. “I really thought it was the last time I would see my mother,” he says.
Kolenberg describes arriving at the center at the same time as the ambulance. Father Mauriello ran back to the sacristy, put on his protective gear, and heard Kolenberg’s mother’s confession, gave her holy communion and anointed her.
Kolenberg’s mother was the very first patient at St. Camillus to go from COVID-positive to COVID-negative. “Father Matt was there the whole time to make sure that she continued to receive the sacraments, because of his charism as a priest and as a Knight of Columbus.”
“It has made all the difference that there is such a comforting soul here, who is 100 percent there for us, praying for us” says Simpson.
