To mark World Day of the Sick and the launch our new Prayer Booklet entitled Praying for and with the Sick and the Dying, Bishop Ray Browne celebrated Mass in our Hospital Chapel on Tuesday the 11th of February. It was a beautiful ceremony and attended by our sisters, patients, visitors, local worshipping community, as well as representatives of the Hospital Management Team and various departments.
Owen McCarthy, our Hospital Mission Leader & Director of Pastoral Care, said the objective of the Pastoral Care Department at the outset was to produce a user-friendly guide that the chaplain or nurse or carer or family member could use to pray for and with the person who is sick or dying; lonely or fearful; awaiting tests results or coming to terms with them; wanting assurance that God is indeed with them in their hour of need.” He went on to say that we, as a hospital community, can be proud of what has been produced. Some of the prayers and reflections contained in the booklet are well-known, others are new; some are in Irish, others are specifically for use with children. He added that the Prayer Booklet is the fruit of a lot of labour over the last number of years, involving colleagues and others both within and outside our hospital community.
Owen thanked Bishop Ray for launching the Prayer Booklet and all who helped in any way to bring the booklet to completion, not least Margaret Naughton for coordinating the booklet and writing the original material contained in it. “It is our sincere hope,” Owen concluded that “our present and future patients will benefit spiritually from the Booklet.”
