HOSPITAL chaplains play a very important role in healing bruised and broken hearts, bringing them closer to God, Bishop Patrick Walsh said this week at the. opening of an extension of Belfast's Mater Infirmorum Hospital.
As health care became more sophisticated with new technology and computers, the bishop said, the chaplains and staff must ensure that the personal touch is not lost. Every member of the hospital team must recognise and respect the dignity of the patient as an individual, Bishop Walsh, who heads Down and Connor diocese which centres on Belfast, recalled to the
assembled guests the past struggles of the Mater between 1948 and 1972 to be recognised as part of the National Health Service. "The doors of the hospital were kept open by a group of people, the young philanthropists, who organises fund-raising on a massive and or a novel scale," he said.