Hospital Chaplaincy

A Vatican cardinal, when asked about the purpose of Catholic schools, is said to have replied that they existed, “for the poor and the lapsed, of course”.

This is equally true of hospital chaplaincy: by it, the Church is easily visible and accessible to the lapsed, the unchurched, the alienated.

Catholic chaplains – priests, religious, lay assistants – may only visit in response to an invitation. But what often happens is that when the chaplain is asked to minister at the bedside of a Catholic patient, there is invariably a beckoning from another patient.

The practising Catholic who asks to see the priest, the religious or the lay-chaplain in hospital, performs a valuable evangelistic action in affording other patients access to the Church.

This hospital ministry extends to families of patients, to staff members and to all members of the hospital community, of all faiths and none. The Catholic chaplain has no role to proselytise, but simply to be visible, accessible and available to all.

The diocese of Salford has a long and enviable tradition of full-time hospital priests, supported by religious and lay assistants. The high esteem in which the Church his held because of this beacon presence eclipses the value of individual chaplains. People far from and near to the Church know that Catholic chaplaincies are pounding the corridors of the hospitals, and never far from the bedside.

In these modern times it is necessary for the Catholic chaplaincy to operate within the restraints of a secular institution, and to be able to co-operate with chaplains of other denominations, and other faiths.

The chaplain of Central Manchester Hospitals, Fr David Egan, encourages Catholics who come to hospital to inform the chaplain:

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The secularism of the 21st century throws up new and radical challenges to all people of faith. Other Christian chaplains have a very different way of responding to these challenges – this sometimes leads to tensions which have to be addressed creatively. There is a close kinship with Jewish and Muslim chaplains whose ministry is prayer-led, as is ours.

Not to use the Catholic chaplaincy is to risk losing it. Everyone who contacts a Catholic chaplain on admission (preferably directly) contributes to the health and survival of the chaplaincy.