HOSPITAL/HEALTH CARE CHAPLAINCY

The Seventh Norman Autton Memorial Lecture

 was delivered by
The Most Reverend Peter Smith, LLB JCD, Archbishop of Cardiff
 at St Bartholomew's Hospital, West Smithfield, London
on Wednesday 19 November 2008

The Hospital Chaplain as Ethicist

Sixty chaplains attended the lecture. Mrs Kate Autton introduced the guest lecturer and presented him with the memorial chalice and paten, which will be used in his chapel during the coming year.

Prior to the lecture a presentation was made to the Venerable Arthur Hawes former Archdeacon of Lincoln and Bishop's Adviser for Healthcare Chaplaincy. The text of the citation given by the Reverend Christopher Jones, Policy Adviser in the Mission and Public Affairs Division at Church House, is given below.

"ARTHUR HAWES

I am delighted that Arthur Hawes is being honoured today.  And there could not be a more appropriate location for it, as Arthur's wife Melanie was a nurse at Bart's and I believe their wedding reception took place in this very hall.  Arthur occupies a unique place in the engagement of the churches with the world of mental health.  Over a period of forty years he has acquired a range of practical experience which has equipped him to be not only an outstanding exponent of mental health chaplaincy but also a key contributor to the development of services and an ambassador to the churches - and more recently to other faith communities as well.

The bedrock of this experience was his sixteen years from 1976 to 1992, as Chaplain to Psychiatric Services in Norwich, serving Hellesdon and David Rice Hospitals and the Yare Clinic.  It was here that he laid the foundations of his profound insight into the needs of people with mental health problems and his knowledge of clinical realities and the functioning of the NHS system.  At the same time Arthur has always been a reflective practitioner, thinking about the theological, moral and practical implications of his ministry and sharing his thoughts with wider audiences through preaching, lecturing and writing, and particularly through events bringing together representatives of the churches with mental health professionals and the service users who have always been his primary concern.

The quality of Arthur's work was recognised by his appointment in 1986 as a Mental Health Act Commissioner, a post which he held for eight years and which no doubt broadened his view of the operation of the system he was monitoring and contributed to his impressive grasp of detail.  From 1997 to 2006 he served as a non-executive director of the Lincolnshire Mental Health Trust.  Meanwhile, the Church of England, as well as making him an Archdeacon in 1995, increasingly made use of him as an adviser on mental health to the Board for Social Responsibility and its successor the Mission and Public Affairs Division, for which I have particular reason to be thankful.  As Chairman of the Mental Health Advisory Group since 2001, he has had a major part in the Church's involvement in the long debates which led to the passing of the 2007 Mental Health Act, after several much worse draft Bills had been kicked into the long grass - but that's another story.

We here are all aware of the increasing recognition by the NHS of the place of spirituality in health care and treatment, and in this Arthur has played a pivotal role.  In 2002 he was a founder member of the interfaith National Spirituality and Mental Health Forum which has brought together a huge number of interested parties from the faith communities, mental health professionals and service users and has kept issues of spiritual assessment and care to the fore.  As Chairman from 2003 to 2005 of the East Midlands Regional Development Centre of NIMHE, he had the crucial task of advising and guiding the region which then held the lead responsibility for policy on spirituality.  This was pursued in close collaboration with the National Spirituality and Mental Health Project - now, alas,no longer funded by the Department of Health.  Now recently retired, Arthur continues as an adviser to the Lincolnshire Partnership Trust, a member of the Mental Health Policy Committee of the NHS Confederation and Vice-Chairman of the Trustees of the National Forum.

But Arthur's contribution can never be captured by reference to his institutional activity, impressive as it is.  You might expect someone who has been for many years an Archdeacon and a member of the General Synod to be pompous and self-important.  But Arthur is neither.  He is a person of warm humanity, compassionate wisdom and a twinkle in the eye which signals his sense of humour and his dislike of pretentiousness.  He has always sought to be a faithful pastor and an intelligent interpreter of the Gospel of the Incarnation, building bridges between an ancient faith and modern thinking about the human person in sickness and in health.  For many people he has exemplified the well-known phrase of the Church Father St Irenaeus: "The glory of God is humanity fully alive, and the glory of humanity is the vision of God."  Today's honour is a tribute to his ability to bring people together in the service of that vision, and a mark of the esteem and affection in which he is widely held.

Christopher Jones
The Great Hall, St Bartholomew's Hospital
19th November 2008"


In welcoming the Archbishop MRS. KATE AUTTON said:

"Thank you very much for your welcome and especially for your presence here today.

Not only have my family and I appreciated the opportunity of meeting many of you beforehand, but also being here in the historic hospital affectionately known as Bart's.

Amongst my memorabilia is a newspaper cutting headed: 'A Training Course for Chaplains at Bart's'. The caption reads:-

"Miss R. Jones, the Matron, with some of the 14 clergymen who are on a training course at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, London. The course is designed to give prospective hospital chaplains experience of working with medical staff and a better understanding of the spiritual problems of the sick." 

It is good to know that through the auspices of the Hospital Chaplaincies Council, and particularly through the enthusiasm of its Chief Executive, The Reverend Edward Lewis, the high standard of training is being maintained and is available to those who seek a vocation within the ministry of the Hospital Chaplaincy. 

On the occasion of Norman's Golden Ordination Anniversary, a colleague presented him with a book written by the one time Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, Basil Hume entitled 'Light in the Lord'.

Writing on his reflections of priesthood, he describes a priest as an ordinary man called to an extraordinary ministry. Many of you have been called to serve in that so called extraordinary and what I regard as a privileged ministry within the various Hospital Trusts, ministering to patients, anxious relatives and to the entire staff of your particular hospital.

It has been quoted that your role could be that of: 'Patients advocate, psychotherapist, resident theologian, advisor to the ward team, enabler and teacher and ethicist'. 

It is both significant and relevant that our lecturer today the Archbishop of Cardiff, The Most Reverend Peter Smith, is known to be an authority on the latter as we are soon to discover.

My role is now to make a presentation to His Grace for being with us today.  Central to every priest's life is the celebration of the Mass. So Archbishop, I would like to present you with this memorial chalice and paten for your personal use for the ensuing year and in so doing to remember with gratitude and thanksgiving chaplains past and present and the Ministry of Healing as a whole".



The Most Reverend Peter Smith, LLB JCD, Archbishop of Cardiff's lecture is an adobe file. To access the lecture click on the link below:

The Hospital Chaplain as Ethicist - lecture

In his lecture the Archbishop referred to two documents:

 

This page was amended on 6 December 2008