PHOTO BY Rebecca Droke / MPW.59 PHOTO BY Rebecca Droke / MPW.59
  • Father Bill Bellais: Healing with Prayer
  • By Rebecca Droke, Pittsburg Post-Gazette
  • The 59th Missouri Photo Workshop / Chillicothe, Mo.
  • “Jesus is the answer to your problems,” a woman once said to Bill Bellais, as he lay sick in a hospital bed. He recovered and now, through his ministry, Father Bill Bellais, 73, seeks to spread the message that God loves the world. He divides his days between parish ministry at the Grace Episcopal Church and visiting hospice patients as the hospital chaplain.

    Traveling nearly 200 miles each week to visit hospice patients, Father Bill uses prayer to bring comfort to them. Depending on the needs of his patients he will read scripture, find out how they are doing physically or simply chat.

    For 15 years Father Bill has shared Christ’s message and the power of prayer with his parishioners at the Grace Church on Locust Street, reminding people to depend on Christ.

    Jesus touched people so they would be well, according to the Bible, and as a Vicar of Christ, Father Bill does as Jesus did.

    Before leaving the house in the morning Father Bill puts on his collar.

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