Bishops Conference of Scotland Second Annual White Mass, at St Andrew's Cathedral Glasgow Sunday 15th February 2009.
Nurses,Clare Crozier,Carolanne Brannan,Maureen Smeaton,Mary Murray and Monica Mc Nulty hand out the mass booklet at St Andrew's Cathedral.
HOMILY PREACHED BY CARDINAL KEITH PATRICK O’BRIEN
SUNDAY 15 FEBRUARY 2009
Introduction:
I am sure you are all fully aware of the reason why we are gathered here in St Andrew’s Cathedral, Glasgow today. It was the wish of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland that all those involved in health care might have the opportunity of gathering together at least once a year for the celebration of Mass – and that opportunities would then be given for them to meet informally as they wish throughout the year. Never before have so many difficult ethical decisions faced those involved in health care – and surely we must all value the opportunity of being together in prayer and of sharing our discussions as to the right way forward, following on the teaching of Christ and his Church.
Contribution of Health Care Workers – ‘Guardians and Servants of Human Life’:
We celebrate today the extraordinary contribution those who work in health care have given and continue to give to Scottish society. At the crucial times of life we most especially rely on our healthcare workers:-
· from the assistance given to bringing a baby into the world;
· through the many forms of healing they perform in our lives when we are confronted by illness;
· for the care and comfort offered to those in the end stages of life.
I think also of the advances our health services have made through the efforts of researchers, scientists and technologists in devising new vaccines, therapies and procedures which contribute to making our world one which is more humane. Those efforts in all their forms prompted our beloved Pope John Paul II to identify health care workers as “guardians and servants of human life” (Gospel of Life).
In the parable of the Good Samaritan we see the witness of true love that is given by the one willing to give assistance and healing to the person in need, no matter who that person may be. Our world is one where pain and suffering, illness and frailty compel us to respond with some level of compassionate care. We naturally wonder about the existence of suffering in our world, its presence in all its depths can challenge us; in the face of it we can be frightened and oppressed. Yet a world without suffering would be one without the heroic witness of those who suffer and those who meet the challenge of that suffering.
The Church has always recognized the redemptive nature of suffering but the (Pontifical) Charter for Health Care Workers notes that the “acceptance of pain, motivated and supported by Christian ideals, must not lead to the conclusion that all suffering and all pain must be accepted, and that there should be no effort to alleviate them. On the contrary this is a way of humanizing pain. Christian charity itself requires of health care workers the alleviation of physical suffering.”
Contradictions in our modern Health Service:
In celebrating the efforts of the healing professions, as we rightly do, we cannot in our day be neglectful of the profound contradictions we find in our modern health services. How can we forget the atrocious crime of abortion which is a direct violation of the fundamental right to life – and ongoing abortionist mentally.
Health workers have a difficult task in resisting these elements of an anti-life culture and combating them. To those who make the sometimes heroic efforts required to stand as faithful witnesses to the truth of the human person and God’s loving plan for life, I thank you and encourage you that your efforts will not be in vain. With the solidarity of your fellow workers a culture of life must triumph even in the face of unjust laws and practices. The Hippocratic ethics which have served generations of humanity are sadly no longer uniformly accepted. As our society has increasingly adopted hedonistic and utilitarian attitudes these inevitably permeate our civic institutions including our hospitals, clinics and surgeries. You must be there to show and live the Christian way!
End of Life:
Presently there is another specific threat to life emerging through the attempt at the Scottish parliament to legalise assisted suicide, while a few attempts are made to support legislation regarding the increased provision of hospices and hospice care for the dying. It seems that attempts are now being made that we should have the ‘right to die’ but not the ‘right to life’.
At a time when health care professionals can offer care historically unparalleled in its scope and efficacy we are seeing ironically the emergence of a mindset which refuses to countenance the acceptance of natural death and the uncertainties which it entails and help towards it. Sadly this is a further symptom of our utilitarian society. Many of you will no doubt be aware that the campaign to legalise physician assisted suicide has intensified. Media outlets frequently portray the acts of assisted suicide and euthanasia as noble and dignified. Little attention is paid to the alienating and despairing nature of this phenomenon, or of how easily vulnerable people can be manipulated. History has taught us in the cruellest of fashions that the inviolability of human life once breached brings with it disorders and terrors which can spread with frightening rapidity.
The concern for those who are facing death and in particular those with worries about possible suffering is a legitimate one. Indeed patients, especially those who are terminally ill should be given whatever medical assistance helps to alleviate the pain accompanying death. We know that the response to illness, pain and suffering should be care not killing. We are fortunate then that so many are committed to providing specialised hospice care and palliative medicine. Our support should be for them – for every attempt to legislate for the availability of hospice care for those who require it, or similar medical attention at home. I know of the profound gratitude that those families who benefit from such services feel due to the huge improvements that are made to a person’s well-being and personal serenity in facing life’s final test.
Moral Education of Healthcare Workers:
I know that health workers have a demanding task in keeping themselves apprised of modern medical developments. It is right that they should ensure their continuing professional development and formation but alongside that there is an equal need to have an ethical and religious formation to match the demands of their vocation and of the social challenges we face. There is therefore a need for health care workers to be taught morality and bioethics by means of suitable courses in bioethics. Health care workers cannot be left alone to bear the responsibility for dealing with ever more complex and problematic clinical situations arising in modern medicine. Catholics in healthcare services have the added responsibility of instilling an ethos respectful of human life in their working environments and in opposing measures which undermine such an ethos. In solidarity with those of goodwill we can ensure that the anti-life mentality is eradicated.
The right to life is specified in the terminally ill person as "a right to die in total serenity, with human and Christian dignity."
Conclusion:
Aware that he is "neither the lord of life nor the conqueror of death," the health care worker, in evaluating means, "should make appropriate choices, that is, relate to the patient and be guided by his real condition."
Our time on earth is but a preparation for our union with Christ, it is a time of trial and testing. It is above all an opportunity for us to grow in love for God and our fellow man. The medical profession in all its manifestations provides a forum where the intensity of the trial and the opportunity to love is particularly felt. May you be strengthened in your own personal journey as you support us all through the magnificent work of service that you perform.
Nurse's and Lourdes Helpers at the Second Annual White Mass.
The Nurse's and Helpers receive Communion from Archbishop Mario Conti and Bishop Vincent Logan.
Cardinal O'Brien and Archbishop Conti with some of the Doctors,Nurse's and Lourdes Helpers after the White Mass at St Andrew's Cathedral.
Photographs by and copyright of Paul Mc Sherry.
Photographs available to purchase from paul.mcsherry@ntlworld.com
07770 393960.