There has been a lot in the national press about faith issues in the last few months, and it has stirred up some debate - the case of nurse Caroline Petrie, who was suspended earlier this year for offering to pray for a patient (she has since been re-instated), is just one example.
Caroline Petrie has been a nurse since 1985, and in keeping with her profession, in my opinion showed a caring attitude towards an elderly patient, who she offered prayer to. The patient did not accept the offer, but neither did she complain, and Mrs Petrie did not force prayer on her. The complaint seems to have come from one of Mrs Petrie's colleagues. And it was summed up in the words of her bosses who said 'As a nurse you are required to uphold the reputation of your profession. Your NMC (Nursing Midwifery Council) code states that "you must demonstrate a personal and professional commitment to equality and diversity…" and "you must not use your professional status to promote causes that are not related to health."
The case prompted one Bishop, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, (the Bishop of Rochester), to say that he was "concerned that the Christian faith was becoming increasingly marginal in places such as hospitals, that owe their origins to Christianity".
The founding values of our British society, and of most Western democracies, are Christian. Christian values have been the bedrock of a caring society, and they have shaped and protected a determined tolerance that welcomes diversity. Yet now, the Christian faith is being marginalised itself because it does not seem to fit the boxes of political correctness.
It seems crazy to marginalise a faith whose essential teachings include 'do to others what you would have them do to you', to 'love God, and love your neighbour as yourself', and whose Founder illustrated the point of loving our neighbour with a story about helping and embracing our cultural 'enemies' when they are in distress (the parable of the Good Samaritan). What's to marginalise?
Jesus not only prayed for the sick, He healed them. He was loved by the broken, the lost, the sick, the vulnerable and the marginalised. Even some influential folks loved him too!
But he was hated by many of the religious authorities of his time, who saw in him a genuine love and power and freedom that they themselves did not possess. They were threatened by his popularity and worried about their own positions. And so they tried to silence him on a number of occasions. Their efforts always back-fired, and the good news of the love of God continued to be told in word and deed, as it has been for the last two thousand years.
Let's hope and pray for common sense to prevail in these difficult days. Faith, and other virtues like Hope and Courage are needed by us all. Prayer is the the most significant, and the simplest way we have of relating to God and asking for His help. It is what many people do almost instinctively when times are tough, or even when things are going so well that we want to thank someone. Those who have benefited from Christian prayer have a desire to share that benefit, or at least offer it, to their neighbours. Should that desire be quenched?
1 comment:
On the same note, the National Secular Society put this out today
Churches and religious organisations should fund their own presence in hospitals, says the National Secular Society (NSS), after it discovered that chaplaincy services are costing the National Health Service more than £32million. This would pay for around another 1,300 nurses or over 2,500 cleaning staff. Both are much-needed.
Using the Freedom of Information Act, the NSS undertook its own research into the cost of chaplaincy services after the Government said it did not keep centralised figures on such spending.
“The headline figure only takes into account the salaries of the chaplains, it doesn’t take account of National Insurance contributions, pension payments, administration costs, office accommodation, training, the upkeep of chapels and prayer rooms,” said Terry Sanderson, president of the NSS. “We can conservatively add another 20% to the headline figure taking it up to £40 million.”
The NSS has now sent the report to the Health Minister, Alan Johnson, calling on him to review chaplaincy services with a view to ending taxpayer funding for them.
Mr Sanderson said: “We are not asking for an end to chaplaincy services, but we are asking that the taxpayer not be made responsible for them. In these times of financial stringency, hospitals are going to have to think very carefully about how they spend their budgets. Hospital chaplains are not on most people’s list of essential services in a health care setting. ”
Mr Sanderson said “For some people – we suspect a very few – chaplains serve a useful purpose. But most people would prefer the tens of millions spent of clerics to be spent instead on nurses, doctors, cleaners and equipment. After all, most of us go to hospital for medical treatment not for church services. Church attendance has been in decline for sixty years and the decline is independently forecast to continue.”
Mr Sanderson said that if the churches and religious bodies considered these services so vital, they should be prepared to fund them themselves.
“Most people who go into a hospital come from the local area,” said Mr Sanderson, “and it would be better if their own vicar, priest, rabbi or imam came to see them if they felt in need of religious support. This could be done as part of the clergy’s regular duties – it should not fall as a burden on the NHS.”
Mr Sanderson said he was asking the Health Minister to conduct more thorough research into what extent these services were actually used by patients and how appreciated they were. “We get plenty of mail from people who feel they have been pestered not only by chaplains, but by religiously-motivated nurses,” he said. “Patients are not generally religious in their everyday life, and the presence of chaplains simply makes them feel unsettled and even irritated. Clergy should only be in hospital by request. A hospital should not be a happy hunting ground for religious proselytisers, whether they are chaplains or other hospital staff.”
The NSS report reveals that not only are clerics employed, but in some cases organists are on the payroll to play in chapels. In some instances, Catholic priests are called to deliver “last rites” and they charge the hospital a call-out for it. “Surely it is not the hospital’s responsibility to fund such activities,” says Terry Sanderson. “The provision of last rites and other such rituals is surely a fundamental responsibility of the Church itself.”
Terry Sanderson commented: “The average cost to the Health Service of a chaplain is £57,000 per annum. I’m sure if patients were asked where they wanted their money spent – two and a half nurses or more than four cleaners rather than one cleric – it is clear that nearly all would opt for the nursing or cleaning staff. It is time for the Church or religious organisations to accept their responsibility for providing these services in order to avoid hospitals having to cut front line medical care. It should look closely at the chaplaincy team and see what savings could be made there without any impact on patient care at all.”
Post a Comment