Mags GarganDear Editor, There is no doubt that the provision of hospital chaplaincy staff is a priority and as having ministered in a hospital, this service is needed as never before.
I find that what patients need is the reassurance of the sacraments, especially with regards to Confession. For a person who may be close to death and maybe has been away from Confession, to receive this great sacrament does bring much peace and comfort in the last moments. However, with the emergence of the Permanent Diaconate, there is the fear that with the deacon’s inability to hear and absolve sins – especially when it may involve mortal/ excommunications of a dying person – this may add to the patient’s distress or even despair. While I welcome the witness and help which the diaconate is bringing to ministry, their inability to administer sacramental absolution or offer Mass is a difficulty with which our people are becoming frustrated with. As one person remarked to me with the news of the first diaconate ordinations in Armagh: “What good are they for? They can’t say Mass or hear my Confession – a waste of time!”
Yours etc.,
Fr John McCallion,
Clonoe,
Co. Tyrone.