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St. Bernards pastoral care director Benedictine at heart

Mayeux overcomes grief, becomes first layperson to hold position at Jonesboro hospital

Published: March 6, 2023   

By Chris Price
Arkansas Catholic Staff

Courtesy Megan Mayeux

In January, Megan Mayeux, pictured here Feb. 23, became the first lay director of pastoral care at St. Bernards Medical Center in Jonesboro.

Courtesy Megan Mayeux

In January, Megan Mayeux, pictured here Feb. 23, became the first lay director of pastoral care at St. Bernards Medical Center in Jonesboro.

Although she was reeling in the grief of losing her husband, Megan Mayeux said she felt Jesus’ love and compassion and wanted to share that feeling with those who truly need it. 

In January, St. Bernards Medical Center in Jonesboro hired her as its director of pastoral care. In her new role, Mayeux is responsible for ensuring there are pastoral services for the health care system’s patients and staff and hosting visiting priests and pastors. She is the first layperson to hold the position.

“I’m focused on keeping the Church's mission within our health care facility,” Mayeux said. “That's something that I'm on fire about.”

“Her arrival strengthens St. Bernards' Catholic identity and mission,” said Sister Johanna Marie Melnyk, OSB, St. Bernards’ vice president for mission and ethics and archivist. “In the past, we had one sister serving as VP for mission services and director of pastoral care. When Mother Mary Clare (Bezner) took office (as prioress of Holy Angels Convent in Jonesboro) last January, she created my position as VP for mission and ethics to have a sister focusing solely on St. Bernards' Catholic identity and faithfulness to Catholic teaching. Essentially, we now have two deeply committed Catholics promoting our mission, where before we only had one, and we are excited about all this will allow us to do within the St. Bernards healthcare system.”

Mayeux’s journey to Jonesboro was unexpected. Originally from Beaumont, Texas, she moved to Arkansas after her husband, Peter, died. 

“I became a widow in 2007, and it was in that grief that I felt the presence of our Lord with me,” Mayeux said. “I had a little boy, and he was just 2 years old when his daddy left us. I moved up here to be closer to family and the emotional support they could give us.”

In Texas, she worked for an attorney as a crime victim coordinator, but once she moved to Arkansas, she felt a new calling. The lifelong Catholic joined St. Mary Church in Altus, and soon Deacon Tom and Sharon Pohlmeier helped her get a job as cafeteria manager at St. Joseph School in Paris. However, she felt God wanted her to do more.

“I love the Catholic faith, and I wanted to know more and more and more,” she said. “I was very interested in theology, so what's better than to get a degree?”

Mayeux took online classes through Newman University in Wichita, Kan., where she earned a bachelor’s degree in theology in 2018 and a master’s degree in theological studies in 2020 She served as an intern in pastoral care at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock, then worked as a clinical pastoral education resident with cancer patients at Hillcrest Medical Center in Tulsa, Okla., before landing in the women's center and intensive care unit at Mercy Hospital Fort Smith as a chaplain. She expects to complete a doctorate in Catholic health care and mission leadership from Loyola University in Chicago in 2025.

In her role, Mayeux said she helps others deal with the grief of life-threatening ailments.

“Grief happens when we lose anything and we think things are out of our control,” she said. “In the health care ministry, we're going to see a lot of death. We also see a lot of life. With our faith, we know that there is actually something else for us besides this world that we live in. That's the true miracle — eternal life. That’s what really has pulled me through all the hard times.”

While patients’ needs are of utmost importance, Mayeux said caring for the staff’s spiritual needs, especially after enduring the COVID-19 pandemic, is a priority.

“That is truly an important outreach,” she said. “We have a lot of distress. Our co-workers were struggling. It was really hard for them, so caring for our staff is super important.”

Mayeux said her spirituality has been heavily influenced by the Benedictines she’s encountered at her church and career. She and her son, now a junior at Subiaco Academy, are oblates of St. Scholastica Monastery in Fort Smith.

“I call myself a Benedictine,” Mayeux said. “I believe my charism is hospitality. I love to make someone feel welcome and comfortable…. My main thing is just to listen. Most people just want to talk, and it's hard to find someone to listen. That's what I do. I'm a listener, a really good listener.”

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