Mission, Ministry and Identity in Catholic Healthcare Workers: Learning from Lourdes
2011
Lourdes Medical Association Lecture, Birmingham, 2011
Some Lecture Notes
MISSION, MINISTRY AND IDENTITY IN CATHOLIC
HEALTHCARE WORKERS: LEARNING FROM LOURDES
Jim McManus
Joint Director of Public Health for Birmingham
Healthcare Reference Group, Bishops’ Conference of England & Wales
Jim.mcmanus@birmingham.gov.uk
Tuskagee (1932 – 1974)
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instrumentalism and perversion of healthcare
the antithesis of a Catholic Vision of healthcare
Lourdes and the constant witness of the Church
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Scripture
False friends in biblical hermeneutics (Bultman et al) and the
rediscovery of canonical interpretation and realism in interpretation
o Healing as sign of jesus’ moral authority
o ACTUALLY it is something much more fundamental
o Erroneous conflation of healing and exorcism
Benedict XVIs recent work
Health is not a state of absence of illness
Spiritual and interpersonal dimensions
When Jesus Healed, he healed spiritually
Tradition – the early church
Tradition – medieval times
Lourdes - Integration
Modern scientific perspectives – health psychology
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Nature of health, biopsychosocial pathways
WHO definitions or satisfactory adjustment?
Insights from health psychology
o Ontological/Spiritual dimension to care seems linked to outcomes
Mission, Ministry and Identity in Catholic Healthcare Workers: Learning from Lourdes
2011
The Church’s Witness
Too much theological thinking on healthcare derivatively takes WHO definitions of
health rather than looking at its own heritage of riches
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Health is a Christian Vision (Revelation 22, John 10.10)
Healing was a real part of Mission of Christ
Healing was always spiritual, physical and social NOT individualist
Christ did NOT necessarily conflate exorcism and healing
Christian Tradition – health services
Vatican II – Lumen Gentium, Gaudium et Spes, Ad Gentes
Pastoral Care for the Sick
Charter for Healthcare Workers
Benedict XVI
o Encyclicals as a reflection on the exercise of theological virtues in
the modern world
 Deus Caritas Est – healthcare workers
 Caritas in Veritate – Healthcare Justice
o Papal Message to healthcare conference
Our Mission – the fundamental calling/purpose
Derives directly from the mission of the Church.
Mission of the Church as Church - Lumen Gentium 8. Klein says1
“Just as Christ carried out the work of redemption in poverty and persecution, so the Church
is called to follow the same route that it might communicate the fruits of salvation to
men...Similarly, the Church encompasses with love all who are afflicted with human suffering
and in the poor and afflicted sees the image of its poor and suffering Founder. It does all it
can to relieve their need and in them it strives to serve Christ. “
There are Christological and Eschatological dimensions of this mission “By the
power of the risen Lord it is given strength that it might, in patience and in love,
overcome its sorrows and its challenges, both within itself and from without, and
that it might reveal to the world, faithfully though darkly, the mystery of its Lord
until, in the end, it will be manifested in full light. (Lumen Gentium)
These dimensions of the Mission of the Church Klein relates to being sent out – Ad
Gentes, “The pilgrim church is missionary by her very nature” (Ad Gentes, 2) and
identifies two aspects2:
1
Klein, A. (2001), ECCLESIOLOGY AND MISSION: A ROMAN CATHOLIC PERSPECTIVE. International
Review of Mission, 90: 260–263
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Klein, A. (2001), OpCit
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Mission, Ministry and Identity in Catholic Healthcare Workers: Learning from Lourdes
2011
“One of the first basic statements can be found in the decree Ad Gentes of the Second
Vatican Council. It describes the real "aim" of mission as "the evangelization and the planting
of the church among peoples and communities where it has not yet taken root", and "the
preaching of the gospel and the gathering of the people of God" (AG 6; 13). It is a wellknown fact that the Council has created a balance between two hitherto competing streams
of tradition on the theology of mission. They are, on the one hand, the view orientated more
towards the propagation of the gospel, conversion to faith and thus personal salvation
(Christ-centred), and on the other hand, the conception more emphatically accompanied by
the setting up of local churches (ecclesiological). In the Council, both positions, with all their
reciprocal implications, were linked. “
The church continues the "sending out" of Christ. Christ proclaimed the good news of the
arrival, the presence and the future of the kingdom of God and, as the sole mediator
between God and humans through his act of redemption, Christ obtained salvation for all
humankind. The message of the love of God as embodied in the mystery of the life of Jesus
Christ should be passed on, i.e. conveyed to every corner of the earth by living witnesses as
an offer and an invitation. This service to bear witness to universal salvation was a charge
given by the Son of God to the Twelve and to all his disciples. Furnished with the gift of the
Holy Spirit, they are brought together as a community …
This is expressed in Gaudium et Spes (4) as
The Church has always had the duty of scrutinizing the signs of the times and of
interpreting them in the light of the Gospel. Thus, in language intelligible to each
generation, she can respond to the perennial questions which men ask about this
present life and the life to come, and about the relationship of the one to the other.
We must therefore recognize and understand the world in which we live, its
explanations, its longings, and its often dramatic characteristics
Similarly, in to Lumen Gentium, “the apostolate of the laity is a sharing in the
church’s saving mission. Through baptism and confirmation all are appointed to this
apostolate by the Lord himself. … Thus, all lay people, through the gifts which they
have received, are at once the witnesses and the living instruments of the mission of
the church itself.” Lumen Gentium 6
Reflection on this leads at least one Catholic Author, Timms, to “It is incumbent,
therefore, upon all of us to exercise these ministerial roles in the service of the
universal church, even more so within the health care ministry of the Catholic
Church. Leaders in Catholic health care, through their role modeling of living
testaments and witnesses, set the tone and direction for Catholic health care as we
move into the future. Given the decline in the number of religious still active in
Catholic health care, this change in leadership, with adequate formation, can (and
must!) continue the healing ministry of Jesus.”3
Our Ministry (Paul – healing and exorcism different!)
functions, charisms in service of mission
3
roles,
Timm, K (2010) “What did Jesus do? Lessons for Health Care Leaders.” Health Progress. September 2010. Pp
65-69
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Mission, Ministry and Identity in Catholic Healthcare Workers: Learning from Lourdes
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By virtue of baptism but with a live connection
Healing
Evangelisation of the sick
Evangelisation of healthcare workers and the workplace
The ecology of the human person in the healthcare system
Against instrumentalism, for personalism
Identity – who we are as people...how mission, ministry, personality
and professionalism combine in us as us
“Catholics ought to enable the sick and vulnerable to experience health care as
consistently as possible with the way God would wish it delivered, as we have come,
through Jesus Christ, to understand the divine will and wisdom. This would mean that,
even if they are incapable of articulating it, people get a sense of having experienced
something of the divine compassion. It is the church's mission to share, through its
health care ministry, that divine compassion with the sick, troubled, and disadvantaged
of our world. This compassion is a hallmark of genuine communion and is integral to the
church's mission”4.
Marian and Johanine aspects of our ministry – the Marian bit sits very clearly in the
example of Mary bringing healing in her apparitions and Johanine – prophetic – all
marian apparitions recognized by Church have a marian (service, witness, living)
role, a Johanine (prophetic) role and a Petrine (upholding the teaching of the Church
role)
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Called by baptism
Graced by living relationship with God and sanctifying work of Church
Active and contemplative
Professional skills serve people, but build up the Kingdom, part of
mission
St Bernadette joined an apostolic order
Bearing sickness and illness within a wider context
Wholeness – Jakobs
Spiritual Pain
Leadership
How do we do this? The Five Vs
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Vision - The Kingdom and mission of the Church, vision of wholeness
Values – part of our identity
Virtues – in our work/ministry and in our lives
Visibility – in professional and clinical life a vehicle for our vision and
values
o Vibrancy – we are alive and well
4
Putney, M E (2004) Health Care and the Church’s Mission. Health Progress. January 2004,pp 19-25
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Mission, Ministry and Identity in Catholic Healthcare Workers: Learning from Lourdes
2011
Leadership as a means of expressing our ministry and identity
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Set of influencing tasks
Lourdes - reminder to us all
Learning from Lourdes and the constant witness of the Church
This is a truism but we would expect Lourdes to teach us about the Christocentric
nature of health and healing, and the Christological dimension of healthcare mission.
Simply because what is Marian points in the Church to what is Christ. What Mary did
at Lourdes points to the fundamental truths of Christian living. So Lourdes is a
profound embodiment and integration, not just symbol, of our 5 Vs.
o Vision - The Kingdom and mission of the Church, vision of wholeness
 The vision of Lourdes – pointing to the mission of the Church,
pointing to the suffering and risen Christ, pointing to Mary as an
example
o Values – part of our identity
 The values of Lourdes – inclusion, adjustment, hope, eschatological
perspective, wholeness not just physical healing, dignity of the
human being
o Virtues – in our work/ministry and in our lives
 Virtues of Lourdes – dignity of the person, vocation to care, faith,
hope and charity in the work of people at Lourdes and in the papal
encyclicals
o Visibility – in professional and clinical life a vehicle for our vision and
values
 Visibility of Lourdes as embodiment of what we stand for
o Vibrancy – we are alive and well
 Vibrancy of Lourdes – new life, joy in the midst of pain. Adjustment
 Health is not a state of absence of illness
 The whole person, following the vision of Christ
END
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Mission, Ministry and Identity in Catholic Healthcare Workers: Learning from Lourdes
2011
MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE 25th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
ORGANIZED BY THE PONTIFICAL COUNCIL
FOR HEALTH CARE WORKERS
To my Venerable BrotherArchbishop
ZYGMUNT ZIMOWSKI
President of the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers
I joyfully wish to extend my cordial greeting to the participants in the 25th International
Conference, which fits in well with the year celebrating the Dicastery’s 25th anniversary and
offers a further reason to thank God for this precious instrument of the apostolate of mercy.
My grateful thoughts go to all those who do their utmost, in the various sectors of pastoral
health care to live that diakonia of charity that is central to the mission of the Church. I am
therefore pleased to remember Cardinal Fiorenzo Angelini and Cardinal Javier Lozano
Barragán, who have led the Pontifical Council for Health Care Workers in the past 25 years
and to send a special greeting to Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, the current President of the
Dicastery, as well as to the Secretary, to the Undersecretary, to the Officials, to the
collaborators, to the speakers at the Congress and to everyone present.
The theme you have chosen this year “Caritas in Veritate: toward an equitable and human
health care”, is of particular interest for the Christian community in which care for the human
being, for his transcendent dignity and for his inalienable rights is central. Health is a
precious good for the person and the community to be promoted, preserved and protected,
dedicating the necessary means, resources and energy in order that more and more people
may benefit from it.
Unfortunately the fact that still today many of the world’s populations have no access to the
resources they need to satisfy their basic needs, particularly with regard to health care, is still
a problem. It is necessary to work with greater commitment at all levels to ensure that the
right to health care is rendered effective by furthering access to basic health care. In our day
on the one hand we are witnessing an attention to health that borders on pharmacological,
medical and surgical consumerism, almost a cult of the body, and on the other, the difficulty
of millions of people in achieving a basic standard of subsistence and in obtaining the
indispensable medicines for treatment.
In the health-care sector too, which is an integral part of everyone’s life and of the common
good, it is important to establish a real distributive justice which, on the basis of objective
needs, guarantees adequate care to all. Consequently, if it is not to become inhuman, the
world of health care cannot disregard the moral rules that must govern it.
As I emphasized in the Encyclical Caritas in Veritate, the Church’s social doctrine has
always highlighted the importance of distributive justice and of social justice in the different
areas of human relations (cf. n. 35).
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Mission, Ministry and Identity in Catholic Healthcare Workers: Learning from Lourdes
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Justice is promoted when one welcomes the life of the other and assumes responsibility for
him, responding to his expectations, for in him one perceives the very Face of the Son of God
who for our sake became man. It is on the divine image imprinted in our brother and sister
that the most exalted dignity of every person is founded and inspires the need for respect,
care and service. Justice and charity, in the Christian perspective, are very closely linked:
“Charity goes beyond justice, because to love is to give, to offer what is ‘mine’ to the other;
but it never lacks justice, which prompts us to give the other what is ‘his’, what is due to him
by reason of his being or his acting.... If we love others with charity, then first of all we are
just towards them. Not only is justice not extraneous to charity, not only is it not an
alternative or parallel path to charity: justice is ‘inseparable from charity’ and intrinsic to it.
Justice is the primary way of charity” (ibid., 6).
In this regard, St Augustine taught using concise and incisive words that “justice consists in
helping the poor” (De Trinitate, XIV, 9: PL 42, 1045).
To bend down, like the Good Samaritan, over the wounded man left by the roadside is to
fulfil that “greater justice” which Jesus asks of his disciples and practised in his life, because
the fulfilment of the Law is love. The Christian community, in following in the Lord’s
footsteps, has complied with his mandate to go out into the world “to teach and to heal the
sick” and, down the centuries, “has felt strongly that service to the sick and suffering is an
integral part of her mission” (John Paul II, Motu Proprio Dolentium Hominum, n. 1), to bear
witness to integral salvation, which is health of soul and body.
The pilgrim People of God on the tortuous paths of history, joins forces with many other men
and women of good will in order to give a truly human face to health-care systems. Justice in
health care must be among the priorities on the agenda of Governments and International
Institutions.
Unfortunately, alongside the positive and encouraging results there are opinions and mindsets
that damage it: I am referring to issues such as those connected with the so-called
“reproductive health”, with recourse to artificial techniques of procreation that entail the
destruction of embryos, or with legalized euthanasia.
Love of justice, the protection of life from conception to its natural end and respect for the
dignity of every human being should be upheld and witnessed to, even going against the tide:
the fundamental ethical values are the common patrimony of universal morality and the basis
of democratic coexistence.
The joint effort of all is required, but also and above all a profound conversion of one’s inner
orientation. Only if one looks at the world with the Creator’s gaze, which is a loving gaze,
will humanity learn to dwell on earth in peace and justice, allocating the earth and its
resources justly to every man and every woman, for their good.
For this reason, “I would advocate the adoption of a model of development based on the
centrality of the human person, on the promotion and sharing of the common good, on
responsibility, on a realization of our need for a changed lifestyle, and on prudence, the virtue
which tells us what needs to be done today in view of what might happen tomorrow”
(Benedict XVI, Message for the 2010 World Day of Peace, n. 9, 8 December 2009).
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Mission, Ministry and Identity in Catholic Healthcare Workers: Learning from Lourdes
2011
To our suffering brothers and sisters I express my closeness and my appeal to experience
illness also as an opportunity of grace to grow spiritually and to participate in Christ’s
sufferings for the good of the world; and I offer all of you who are committed in the vast field
of health, care my encouragement for your precious service. As I pray for the motherly
protection of the Virgin Mary, Salus infirmorum, I cordially impart to you my Apostolic
Blessing, which I also extend to your families.
From the Vatican, 15 November 2010
BENEDICTUS PP. XVI
Biography
Jim McManus BD(Hons), Dip.Sc, DipPsych, DipPsy, CPsychol, CSci, AFBPsS, FFPH, FSA Scot
City Director of Public Health. Honorary Senior Lecturer, the University of Birmingham
Jim.mcmanus@birmingham.gov.uk
Jim is a Chartered Psychologist and a Chartered Scientist, a Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health of
the Royal Colleges of Physicians, a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society and Member of the
Catholic Theological Association and British/Irish Association of Practical Theology. Jim is a Knight of
St Columba. Jim has worked in and across local government, the NHS, third sector, central
government and the private sector including a period in the Chemical Industry. Employed by the Third
Sector between 2000 and 2005 he worked on national projects for Central Government.
He has been Joint Director of Public Health for Birmingham City Council and the 3 Birmingham
Primary Care Trusts, based in the City Council since November 2008. He advises the Local
Government Association at a national level. Among his responsibilities in Birmingham he leads a
programme on health and social care integration, which has already reduced avoidable hospital
admissions. He leads planning for humanitarian assistance in a major civil emergency. Before this he
was a Consultant in Public Health in East London where he led on cardiac public health for a
population of 1.5 million people, including supporting the development of non invasive imaging
technologies in cardiology, and public health programmes. He held honorary academic appointments
at South Bank University and St Bartholomew’s School of Nursing and Midwifery. He led emergency
planning and environmental epidemiology on contaminated land and industrial hazards in one of East
London’s most industrial boroughs. He was part of the public health response to the London
bombings.
Jim read Divinity at Glasgow, and won the Clelland and Rae Wilson Medal and the Dixon Prize, both
for Systematic Theology. He then retrained in Psychology (two graduate diplomas and the British
Psycholgical Society’s examinations) and retrained again in Public Health (Faculty of Public Health
Examinations and UK Public Health Registration) while working full-time.
Voluntary work
He has been a member of the Healthcare Reference Group of the Bishops’ Conference of England
and Wales since its inception in 2003/4, and was also part of the Welsh Sub-Group. He helped set up
the Catholics in Healthcare network. His work ranges from guideline and document writing to
supporting dioceses and NHS agencies with issues of religious diversity and providing training to
Catholic Healthcare workers and others. His guidebook for NHS Managers on managing religious
diversity is sent to every NHS Trust in England and Wales annually.
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Mission, Ministry and Identity in Catholic Healthcare Workers: Learning from Lourdes
2011
Other work for the Church includes supporting the Conference of Religious and their Anglican
counterparts in developing health and social care for their elderly and long term ill members. He
supported negotiations with the Care Quality Commission which removed potentially harmful and
costly policy changes affecting religious communities. He is now working with religious communities
on funding options to care for their ageing populations. He undertakes training work on leadership
formation for religious communities, and since 2008 has undertaken training work on the theology of
safeguarding and supporting a research project for the Catholic Safeguarding Advisory Service.
In 2008 he represented the Bishops’ Conference on the International Public Health Ethics
Symposium, delivering the closing plenary speech and two papers arguing for the relevance of a
Catholic approach to Public Health Ethics as opposed to secularist and analytical philosophical ethics.
Public Appointments and Committees
He was part of the Government’s Ministerial Crime Reduction Group from 2000-2003 and worked
closely with three government departments on reducing drug related crime. He also spent time
working with the Welsh Assembly Government. He was responsible for 2003 national guidelines on
response to hate crime monitoring, for the Home Office. He completed a term on the Ethics
Committee for the Department of Work and Pensions. Before that he held a public appointment by the
Lord Chancellor to the Equal Treatment Committee of the Judical Studies Board, which advises the
judiciary of England and Wales on diversity issues. He completed a term on the Research Board and
the Representative Council of the British Psychological Society and was part of the team which
developed guidelines for psychologists on disclosure of deliberate or reckless HIV transmission. Jim
is a member of the Public Mental Health Committee of the Faculty of Public Health and is on the
Board of the Regional Public Health Observatory and Regional Public Health Teaching Network.He
co-authored a Systematic Review with the University of Birmingham and West Midlands Health
Economic Research Team
Publications
He authored the government’s 2008 guidance on faith communities and emergency planning and the
government’s 2009 guidance on faith communities and pandemics including handling of mass
fatalities and needs of faith communities. His work has been published in journals including The
Psychologist, Health Psychology, Health Education Journal, Journal of Health Services Research and
Policy, Nursing Management, The Month, The Furrow as well as publications by Government and by
the Bishops’ Conference.
Free Time
In his spare time he likes reading, cycling and travel. His favourites include cycling round Umbria or
Lazio or walking around buildings and bookshops in Ravenna, Rome, Madrid, Barcelona, Toledo,
Cologne and Paris.
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