When a man dying of cancer asked...

When a man dying of cancer asked his social worker to send a clergyman to his home to plan a funeral, at first he and his wife had trouble understanding the role of Chaplain Leonard J. Lewy.

“Where is your congregation?” the couple asked. “It is right here in this room,” he responded. “And in the rooms of other homes that I have the privilege to go to in my work.”

That visit was the first of many over a two-month period when Lewy got to know family members and offer them emotional and spiritual support. When he eventually officiated at the funeral, he said, “it was a more meaningful and personal service because I knew the family and connected with them.”

As a professionally trained, full-time chaplain for the nonprofit Visiting Nurse Assn. of Los Angeles, Lewy enjoys a relatively unique position. “My organization has truly gone all out for chaplaincy,” he said.

Lewy, an ordained Conservative rabbi, received certification in clinical pastoral education at UCLA Medical Center’s department of pastoral care. The Rev. David Myler, associate department director, said: “The VNA is in the forefront in its commitment to a full-time, professionally trained chaplain as part of hospice care.

“Too many hospices rely on untrained volunteers. That’s not being fair to their clients and not taking seriously the spiritual needs of people who are under their care,” he said. “Book learning, even in a seminary, doesn’t teach you how to deal with people.”

The association’s Yvette Luque Hospice program has contracts with such hospitals as Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, Huntington Memorial in Pasadena and Valley Presbyterian in Van Nuys to provide home care for patients diagnosed as terminally ill. It also receives referrals from individuals. Last year, it counseled about 1,500 patients and their families.

Kris Hillary, a veteran registered nurse who directs the seven regional offices of the nursing group’s hospice, sees Lewy’s role as integral to holistic care of the dying and their loved ones.

“Hospice is a philosophy of care that stresses comfort and manages symptoms--not only physical ones,” she said. “We take care of everything that happens to people when they die, not only the patients, but their families’ psychosocial and spiritual needs.

“Because someone’s spirituality is so much a part of what they are, it is extremely important to provide spiritual support during the dying process,” she said.

Lewy visits up to 20 patients a week in their homes or nursing facilities. He oversees two part-time chaplains who are ordained ministers and are certified in clinical pastoral education.

He is receiving advanced training at UCLA and plans to launch a program to help clergy learn how to minister to people on an interfaith model in a hospice setting. He will begin training seminarians in December.

“We visit everyone from new age people to atheists,” he said. “It’s not so much religious care we provide, but spiritual care. Being there. Listening to people. Putting yourself in the breach. My Christian colleagues call it ‘the ministry of presence.’ ”

Lewy says his work is not finished when a patient dies; he continues to provide spiritual care for the bereaved as long as he is needed. The hospice also runs grief recovery groups and holds nondenominational memorial gatherings that he describes as “a combination of a bereavement group and a memorial service.”

Despite his formal training, “what I do is not a science,” he said. “It’s holding out a hand, being open to conversation or prayer, but never forcing either.

“Death is a part of life,” he said. “It sounds like a cliche, but we all have to face it and it seems more natural in this setting.

“I feel very privileged to do this special kind of work,” Lewy said. “I really feel this is the fulfillment of what I set out to do when I became a rabbi.”

The 55-year-old Visiting Nurse Assn. of Los Angeles is a community-based health agency that makes 350,000 visits a year to patients in their homes and nursing facilities, providing skilled nursing, rehabilitation, social, home care and other services on an ability-to-pay basis. For information about the association or its hospice program, (213) 386-7200. DATES

* “Sisters in Song,” the 60-voice choir from 32 Roman Catholic religious communities nationwide, will perform during and after the 10 a.m. Mass July 2 at Carondelet Center Chapel. Cardinal Roger M. Mahony will preside. Recordings will be sold after the Mass, with proceeds benefiting two national organizations addressing the retirement needs of aging religious sisters, brothers and priests. 11999 Chalon Road, Los Angeles. 310 670-3735. Cassette tapes and compact discs ($9.95 and $12.95, plus shipping) may also be ordered by phone from (800) LITURGY.

* The Filipino Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) will celebrate its 61st anniversary Sunday with a community worship service at 11 a.m, followed by a luncheon, music, dance and entertainment ending at 5 p.m. The day’s festivities are co-sponsored by Alyansa Ng Komunidad, a Filipino community-based organization. 301 N. Union Ave., Los Angeles. For information and reservations, (213) 483-5821.

* A blood drive in honor of Isaac Malinovich, a 23-year member of Temple Beth Ami of Reseda who will celebrate his 101st birthday July 4, will be held at the synagogue from 3:15 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday. The public is invited. 18449 Kittridge St. (818) 343-4624.

* The Native American Ministry Project of the Presbyterian Church holds a worship service at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Long Beach. Communion will be celebrated, and a pot luck meal follows. Third Street and Atlantic Avenue. (310) 670-5076, (310) 643-5793.

CLASSES

* UCLA Extension presents a 12-session course, “The Archeology of Palestine,” encompassing the area of modern-day Israel and the Sinai Peninsula, from the Bronze Age to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Classes are taught by Stuart Tyson Smith of UCLA’s Institute of Archeology and meet from 7 to 10 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays, June 28 through Aug. 4. The instructor relates archeology to the Bible, and will cover the Exodus, the conquest of Canaan and the Babylonian captivity of the Jewish people and its effect on biblical history. The course may be taken for credit or audited. (310) 206-8456.

* Multicultural ministry and theological issues are among the topics to be addressed during the Loyola Marymount University Center for Pastoral Studies’ Institute for the Evangelization of Cultures program Friday to Aug. 5. “Counseling Concerns for Ministers in the Multicultural Community” is one series of workshops within the institute. Courses leading to a certificate in pastoral studies or grief recovery are also available. A low-cost Wednesday evening lecture series will be presented by the university’s Institute for Pastoral Studies Wednesday to July 27. For registration information, phone (310) 338-2799.

* The Making Marriage Work program of the University of Judaism offers summer classes in several locations for engaged Jewish couples and those considering marriage. One interfaith seminar, for couples in which one member is Jewish and one is not, begins in July. For information, (310) 476-9777, Monday through Thursday.

* A multicultural faculty will lead a weeklong exploration of violence and gender in a two-unit graduate course entitled “Women Doing Faith Based Social Analysis” at Immaculate Heart College Center from July 11 to July 15. Using the city of Los Angeles as a laboratory, the course will include on-site visits to various women’s empowerment projects. For information on the curricula, instructors, tuition and scholarships, (213) 386-3116.