Caring work of Presbyterian Church chaplains team

The acknowledgement came at a special conference at the Presbyterian Assembly Buildings, Belfast yesterday, organised by the church's Council for Mission Ireland.

The conference discussed the various ethical challenges chaplains may need to navigate, from both a theological and medical perspective now and in coming years.

The Rev Robert Bell, convener of CMI’s chaplaincy committee, welcomed the opportunity to bring the healthcare chaplains together to face the various challenges.

“As a church we have a long history of providing pastoral support through our chaplains to many different people across many different aspects of national day-to-day life, be it in universities and colleges, prisons, the armed forces, and more recently in the rural community," he said."We have around 30 chaplains, full and part-time, men and women, who work in hospitals and other health settings. This is an opportunity to bring many of them together for fellowship, time of prayer, teaching and discussion.

"Our chaplains have an important frontline role in our congregations across Ireland in bringing Christ’s love and compassion to patients and families. "They often go above and beyond the actual hours for which they are employed – which are often not sufficient for the task, with many combining the demands of healthcare ministry alongside other commitments in local congregations and elsewhere.

"The pastoral and spiritual support, along with the care provided by them, and indeed by chaplains from other denominations, is very deeply appreciated, not only by patients and families, but the whole healthcare community, and it is important that that is recognised,” said Mr Bell, who added that chaplains were very much part of a hospital’s multi-disciplinary team and their role often opened up significant opportunities for sensitive Christian ministry.

“The onus is on patients to seek the chaplain’s support and care, so it is very important that when people are admitted to hospital, they indicate their permission for a chaplain to be informed of their desire to be visited and have their own minister told that they are in hospital.”

At the conference, former Presbyterian moderator the Rev Dr David Bruce spoke of how human life is "special and holy to God’".

“While our chaplains may not be able to say everything that they might want to say at every bedside, they can say it all in prayer to the Lord in the privacy of their room later. They may not see the results of their labours in every encounter, but they will have made a mark in the lives of those folk who gather, bewildered and exhausted when they simply ask: 'Can I pray for you?'."

The conference also heard from Dr Tim Huey, an elder in Whiteabbey Presbyterian church, and GP working in Templepatrick, who said: “Chaplains offer a unique service in their support for people of all faiths and none.”