In consideration of the challenges health-care workers face, Archbishop Chaput offered his thoughts on what the Catholic response should be.
“The first thing all of us need to do – and I mean bishops, priests, deacons, religious, mothers and fathers, mechanics, lawyers, shopkeepers, business executives and doctors – is to ask God for the gift of honesty,” he said.
“We need to examine our hearts with real candor. And we need to ask ourselves how 'Catholic' we really want to be. If the answer is 'pretty much' or 'sort of' or 'on my own terms' – then we need to stop fooling ourselves, for our own sake and for the sake of the people around us who really do believe. There’s no more room in American life for easy or tepid faith.”
“If on the other hand,” the prelate continued, “you’re one of the many in Catholic health care – too many to count, starting with the people in this room – who see the Church and her teachings as the ministry of Jesus himself, and seek God in your vocation, and see the face of Christ in the suffering persons you help; then you are what the soul of the Catholic health-care vocation has always been about.”
“In God’s plan,” he pointed out, “you have a beautiful and demanding vocation. God asks you to be servants of life and guardians of human dignity through your healing and care of others. It’s a noble calling, and it’s threatened by trends in our society which are magnified in the current debate over health-care reform.”
“Have courage,” he urged. “Trust in God. Speak up and defend your Catholic faith with your medical colleagues. Commit yourself to good and moral medicine. Get involved and fight hard for the conscience rights of your fellow Catholics and their institutions. Remember the Hippocratic Oath. Dedicate yourselves again to being truly Christian and deeply Catholic health-care professionals.”
“You and I and all of us – we’re disciples first,” Archbishop Chaput concluded. “That’s why you gave your heart and all your talent to this extraordinary vocation in the first place. Remember that as you go home today. Use up your lives for the glory of God and the dignity of your patients.”
“You walk in the footsteps of the Healer of humanity and Redeemer of history. In healing the sick, proclaim his Kingdom with the witness of your lives.”
To read the full text of Archbishop Chaput's address, visit: http://www.archden.org/index.cfm/ID/3508.