At the tail end of last year, on 1 November 2014, the Network of Catholics in Health and Social Care held a one-day seminar for healthcare professionals to ask the question:
Health and Social Care Staff: Good Samaritans for the 21st century?
We now have the conference audio available for you to listen to here or on our SoundCloud stream.
The seminar took place at Heythrop College in central London.
The following speeches/talks are available:
Introduction
Bishop Tom Williams, Chair, Bishops’ Health and Social Care Advisory Group
An Introduction to the day
Keynote speaker
Rev Dr Gerry Arbuckle SM
Re-Owning the NHS Founding Story: The Good Samaritan Parable (morning)
Keynote speaker
Rev Dr James Hanvey SJ, Master of Campion Hall, Oxford
‘Care’ and ‘Dignity’ in the modern NHS from a theological perspective – part one (morning)
Keynote speaker
Rev Dr Gerry Arbuckle SM
Prophetic Leadership in Healthcare Today: “Samaritan Style” (afternoon)
Keynote speaker
Rev Dr James Hanvey SJ, Master of Campion Hall, Oxford
‘Care’ and ‘Dignity’ in the modern NHS from a theological perspective – part two (afternoon)
Use the separate audio players to the right of this page to listen or visit our SoundCloud stream.
For nearly two thousand years in Britain the Catholic Church and Catholic institutions were the providers of education, care, and treatment for sickness.
After the reformation and the dissolution of the monasteries, the loss of this provision clearly needed a replacement and Queen Elizabeth I established the “Poor Law”, by which charity was gradually replaced with a compulsory land tax levied at parish level.
Only in the 19th Century have we seen the creation of local authority services and these have only provided comprehensive services for the welfare of all since 1948.
Today, more than three million people work hard to provide health and care services in England and Wales, many of whom are driven by the same Christian impetus of charity and the example of the Good Samaritan. This Conference will examine how the principles of charity and the Good Samaritan are in fact essential in providing care and how the Catholic faith helps people to respond professionally from a principled spiritual position.
This day provided original insights into the theology of healthcare. It was informative and stimulating, with round table discussions and the valued input of world-leading thinkers on this very important area of welfare provision.
cbcew.org.uk/healthcare
Healthcare section on the Bishops’ Conference website
