Archbishop of Sydney

St. Vincent's Hospital, Darlinghurst

150th Anniversary Mass
St. Mary's Cathedral, Sydney

By + Cardinal George Pell
Archbishop of Sydney
26/8/2007

In this Mass we gather to thank God for the many blessings received and the wonderful works accomplished during the 150 year history of St. Vincent’s Hospital in Darlinghurst. However we do more than this, because while we draw inspiration from the past, we do not see this as an exercise in nostalgia, but as an encouragement to even greater works in the future. Therefore we pray for wisdom and perseverance and call on God’s support for all our future endeavours as well as our present planning and activities.

At a Catholic Sunday Mass in a Cathedral the convention, indeed the regulation, stipulates which scriptural readings are to be proclaimed.  Sometimes these readings fit the situation perfectly; and on other occasions they provide a context for our deliberations.

Certainly I suspect that the Old Testament prophet Isaiah was not even hinting at our continent of Australia, when he spoke of nations of every language and distant islands, who had never even heard of God, coming to witness His glory. In our celebration we are explicitly acknowledging in faith the one true God of Isaiah.

The gospel today wonders about how many will be saved at the end of time and speaks of the final division between the good and caring, who will be rewarded and the evil ones – the goats, hard hearted, closed in on themselves and unheeding of the suffering around them - who are destined for punishment downstairs.

Today is not the occasion to pursue this theme, but very early in your professional lives, much earlier than in other professions, doctors and all nursing staff are forced to confront the mysteries of human suffering and death. These experiences force you to choose as you define, at least in practice, the nature of your personal contributions to health care. We hope and pray that many of you, indeed all you, will continue to have an explicit and developed Christian and Catholic understanding of your obligations.

A friend of mine wrote recently that a fundamental struggle is beginning in educated circles throughout the Western world between those who believe God created us and those who believe we create God. Generally theists believe in natural law and human nature, and they respect the natural law and work to help humans and enhance human nature.

Atheists and militant agnostics, on the other hand, see religion as a private therapeutic exercise and fundamentally irrational, an outdated social construct, while traditional notions like natural law and even human nature are there to be used, improved or discarded according to changing human imperatives, often financial imperatives.

Few divides are as fundamental as this one. Institutionally under the leadership of the Sisters of Charity, St. Vincent’s Hospital has always placed itself with God and we hope and pray that the overwhelming majority of the leadership and staff, all those who choose to work in the tradition of Catholic health care, will continue to choose God and compassion.

There is no dispute that it was deep Christian faith which inspired the five Irish Sisters of Charity who migrated to Sydney in 1838. The Sisters mission was clear: to assist the poor and disadvantaged. Their early work included helping convict women and children at Parramatta, at what was then known as the Female Factory; assisting families during the 1844 influenza epidemic and caring for prisoners and their families at inner-city Darlinghurst Gaol.

In 1857 the Sisters of Charity established St. Vincent’s at Potts Point, as a free hospital for all people, but especially for the poor. Three of the Hospital’s founding Sisters were professional nurses, having trained in France, and they brought their knowledge to the colony.

From its humble origin of 22 beds, the demand for St. Vincent’s services led it to move to its current site at Darlinghurst (Victoria Street) in 1870, where we now have a vast complex of buildings and departments.

The challenges facing Catholic hospitals today are considerable. Recent times have brought a huge growth in the scale and activities of all hospitals, a parallel growth in public expectations, escalating healthcare costs, greater competition from for-profit hospitals, and changes from the influence of the market upon healthcare relationships.

Once healthcare was understood as a form of compassionate service between a professional and a patient. Today society increasing understands healthcare as a commodity supplied by ‘healthcare providers’ to ‘healthcare consumers’ under the direction of ‘healthcare managers’. I hope the Sisters of Charity and St. Vincent’s continue to resist this language. Consumers are always human beings, who represent Christ himself for believers.

Generally this explicit personal care will not require inefficiencies, although some pagan options will be cheaper e.g. euthanasia would be cheaper than long-term care of the sick. But that is also another story.

Other challenges facing our great Catholic hospitals include less support from a weakened Catholic subculture, and declining vocations amongst founding congregations.

Catholic hospitals have to balance necessary concern for economic stability, professional reputation and cultural acceptability, with a concern to maintain the Catholic identity and mission of the hospital and especially the dimension of genuine Christian service.

St. Vincent’s has found this balance. The hospital has grown into a leading medical, surgical and research facility and has been at the forefront of innovation in areas including cardiac, lung and bone marrow transplantation. You provide a full range of adult diagnostic and clinical services, and are a principal teaching hospital of the University of New South Wales with close affiliations with a number of other universities, such as Australian Catholic University and Notre Dame University.

At the same time, St. Vincent’s has maintained its Catholic identity and mission. You continue to be a community of service to those in need and to maintain your own Catholic identity, mission and conscience. You continue the healing mission of Jesus, mediating the compassion of God to a suffering world and serving a suffering Christ in your patients. You witness to the presence of Christ and to Catholic teachings about the value of human life and the dignity and destiny of the human person. And you make special provision for the most disadvantaged or those most vulnerable to neglect.

In all this St. Vincent’s shows that health care ministry is an expression of the broadly sacramental character of the Catholic Church. Catholic hospitals are signs and instruments of union with God, brought about by service of the sick, the witness given to Gospel truth, especially that every person is made in the image of God, and worship offered in prayer and pastoral care.

Many of us here have personal reasons for gratitude to St. Vincent’s. Only a month ago I was a patient, or guest, or consumer and client, dependent on the professional competence and kindness of nurses and doctors. And so as one of many, many patients I express our personal thanks.

Let me conclude by reading the message which I received a few days ago from the Vatican, which I will consign to Sr. Elizabeth for the archives:

The Holy Father was pleased to be informed of the One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of Saint Vincent’s Hospital in Darlinghurst, and he sends cordial greetings to the Sisters of Charity, members of the hospital staff and all present for the Eucharistic celebration.  His Holiness is confident that this occasion will be an opportunity for the Sisters and their collaborators to reaffirm their love for Christ in the poor, the sick and the lowly (cf Mt 25:40) and to renew the moral obligations they have assumed in the apostolate of Catholic health care.  Commending all those gathered for the celebration to the protection of Mary, Salus Infirmorum, the Holy Father willingly extends his Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of peace and joy in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone
Secretary of State

From the Vatican, 20 August 2007

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.