Rob Colquhoun

Have been on Placement up in Washington and Penshaw between Newcastle and Sunderland. For the first week, I was in St Bedes in Washington with Mgr Phil Carroll. In the first week we (Stefan and I) saw many first communion parents, visited parishioners, went to Durham and Chester le Street Hospital, had a funeral. We also went to some of the nursing homes, had quite a few nice meals out and then at the end of 1 week I went over to Our Lady Queen of Peace in Penshaw. We have been working in the school, sitting in on lessons as an assistant and also giving talks about priesthood and the Church and answering any questions to year 9. I took an assembly one morning and we also visited more parishioners in hospital. We visited the nuns in Sunderland one evening. We have also seen Durham Cathedral, Bishop Auckland, Newcastle, Sunderland and Penshaw monument, a Greek temple on top of one of the hills here. Overall the parishioners have been really welcoming and kind. We have also seen some of the marriage preparation organisations, been to Ushaw for the community evening and also to the Youth Ministry team evening. 

Cardinal Newman remains today one of the most important religious leaders of the nineteenth century. He had a clear understanding of God’s plan for our lives. He understood that God creates a purpose and a plan for our lives regardless of our abilities. God does not demand the impossible from us, but to cooperate with him is likely to give you happiness and success. We find this when we are seeking and loving what is true and good. God has given each one of us our own task for this life.

Newman also had a firm understanding of what conscience is and how important it is. He described it as the “aboriginal vicar of Christ” and highlighted how we can never discard our conscience as it plays such a fundamental role in discerning right and wrong. Our Consciences are formed especially when we are young. We must listen to our conscience in order to be true to ourselves. If we cannot be honest and genuine to ourselves, our whole lives will end up being a lie and lying to yourself is the apex of deception. Conscience is man’ most secret core, and his sanctuary. He is alone with God whose voice echoes in his depths. (Gaudiem and Spes). Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet: “This above all: to thine ownself be true and it must follow as the night the day thous canst not then be false to any man.” We must not succumb to pier pressure for the sake of coolness for any other reason. The wonderful gift of God’s approval far surpasses the approval of anyone else. Being true to oneself is very important.

Cardinal Newman:

God has created me to do him some definite service; he has committed some work to me which he has not committed to another. I have my mission – I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the next.

 I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He has not created me for naught. I shall do good; I shall do his work. I shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place while not intending it- if I do but keep his commandments. Therefore I will trust him. Whatever, wherever I am. I can never be thrown away. If I am in sickness, my sickness may serve Him. He does nothing in vain. He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends; He may throw me among strangers. He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits sink, hide my future from me – still He knows what he is about.

Current trends and the reality of medical practice

Science can either be directed towards the human person or be used to exploit others. Developments in science have meant that people are now living longer than they ever have done. Science has succeeded in helping the person to live to as long as the body can handle. But new interpretations have meant that death, suffering and family have been misinterpreted and their Christian emphasis has been rejected.

Death has turned into a dirty word, forgotten, ignored or unspoken about by the cult of youth. A healthy approach is to embrace, prepare and accept death as part of the culture. A Christian understanding informs us that resurrection supersedes death eventually and life is beyond the grave and has the last triumph. The Second Vatican Council said:

“It is when faced with death that the enigma of the human condition is most evident. People are tormented not only by pain and by the gradual diminution of their bodily powers but also, and even more, by the dread of forever ceasing to be. But a deep instinct leads them rightly to shrink from and to reject the utter ruin and total loss of their personality. Because they bear in themselves the seed of eternity, which cannot be reduced to mere matter, they rebel against death. They may prolong their life-span; but this does not satisfy their heartfelt longing, one that can never be stifled, for an after-life. The Church, taught by divine revelation, declares that God has created people in view of a blessed destiny that lies beyond the boundaries of earthly misery.” (Gaudiem et Spes 18 ed).

Palliative care, especially of the elderly can still help Doctors work in accordance with the Hippocratic oath and not succumb to the temptations and evil of euthanasia, whether willing or involuntary. Even though the elderly suffer, our suffering is embraced in full when we accept it and unite it to Christ’s suffering. When suffering is seen to be a problem that science can overcome it is not understood in its full context. Suffering is an integral part of the human condition. Whenever we sin we contribute towards evil and help suffering continue. Therefore we are partly responsible for the suffering. Suffering therefore partly originates from within our hearts. The dividing line of good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being (Alexander Solzhenitsyn).

Terminology also tells us a lot about the mentality of current ethical areas. Euthanisia organisations rename themselves “Dignitas” in order to pretend to be about caring while the UN likes to call Abortion under the guise of  “sexual and reproductive health.” British legislation is desperate to push Euthanasia through the House of Lords- this will only lead to fear and trouble for elderly patients who will lose the trust they place in Doctors to look after them rather than murder them. The perspective of the doctor changes completely if he is told to murder his patients rather than to care for them. We need excellent politicians, hospital chaplains and doctors out there to ensure that the direction of health care is still in the service of the human person not doing him harm.