Some 50 Catholic health practitioners participated in a Pastoral Care and Support conference and retreat organised by the New Zealand Catholic Medical Association at Island Bay, Wellington, in the last weekend of May.
In a letter, Wellington Cardinal John Dew welcomed the group who “have chosen to leave behind the demands of your service to those in need of health care, to seek both the solidarity of your colleagues and some solitude”.
Cardinal Dew said health care has always had ethical challenges, “but they are intense in these times”.
“Covid-19 has posed global ethical dilemmas, especially around resource allocation and equity, that we have barely begun to explore. We continue to face relentless pressure in relation to abortion and assisted suicide and, with recent legislative changes, we must now redouble efforts to support those for whom decisions in these areas are personal,” the cardinal said.
“At the same time, the poor and the marginalised in our communities cannot always access the health care they need, and I know that many of you make daily decisions about how best to help them,” he added.
NZCMA spokesperson Dr Joseph Hassan said the speakers, especially Fr Christopher Denham — the dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral in Auckland — provided “some very insightful reflections”.
“The pastoral care retreat was a very valuable experience to slow down and join together in friendship and faith,” Dr Hassan said. “The atmosphere at Our Lady’s Home of Compassion retreat centre in Island Bay, Wellington, was truly one of compassion and love.”
He noted “New Zealand’s own Mother Teresa, Mother Suzanne Aubert, foundress of the Daughters of Our Lady of Compassion” was entombed in the side chapel.
“This is a great place of pilgrimage, as we learn more and encourage each other with living the Good News of Jesus Christ,” he noted.
Fr Denham and Dr Hassan gave the opening address. This was followed by a talk by Auckland barrister Ian Bassett on the topic of “Freedom of Conscience”.
In his opening address, Fr Denham said language is often distorted “to convey an ideology, rather than the truth”.
He said that, while this may be a threat, it could also be an opportunity.
“In our world today, even refusing to call a lie ‘truth’ will bring us trouble enough. But if we speak the truth, and refuse to participate in a collective lie, even if we cannot, as yet, turn back the tide; if at least within our own hearts and in our own places, we speak the truth, there is within our situation this great hope. Lies are always vulnerable to the truth,” he said.
When disputing with others, though, he said it is good to do so “with a proper understanding of the call of each human person”.
“If we do our best to speak the truth, or at least to refrain from lies, and if we do our best to model in our own lives our understanding of the ultimate value of each human life, then we need never feel that there is nothing we can do,” he said.
The following day, the participants heard from Dr Dermot Kearney and Dr Eamonn Matthieson via Zoom. The last speaker was Dr Catherine Hallagan, who shared her personal experiences on how she practised her faith and her profession at the same time.
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