A Day in the Life ...
............................ of a Hospital Chaplain


Father David Ryder


Father David Ryder
is the Chaplain to North Manchester General Hospital. [email]

Bleep.. bleep.. bleep….. It’s not the nicest of sounds to hear in the middle of the night and for a few moments you can be bemused if you are in the middle of a deep sleep. What is that noise? Quickly you come round and you know that, in fact, it is the pager. No one would pretend that the pager is a pleasant sound to hear in the middle of the night, nor do I rise with a merry song upon my lips, but nevertheless it is an essential part of the hospital chaplain’s ministry to respond to calls in the night just as at other times of the day. Calls at that time will normally be an emergency; someone suddenly being taken seriously ill or a family who wish you to be present because their relative is dying and it is important that these patients and their families are seen. It is also good that the nurse who makes a call should see that the chaplain responds in that time of need.

'Visiting' is the main work of a hospital priest

One of the interesting aspects of this vocation is that you never know what the next call will bring or who you will be asked to see. Most of our work is the routine of visiting the patients on the wards and emergency calls are only a small part of our normal ministry. I feel that the work of a priest in a hospital can be summed up in the one word ‘visiting’. Day by day the work involves going round the hospital and being available in the first place to patients but also to the staff, to visitors and to anyone who uses the hospital. In doing this the chaplain will meet a great variety of people with a variety of needs.


Ensuring the presence of The Lord in The Blessed Sacrament

Another point of contact with those who use the hospital is the chapel. Our chapel is situated centrally on the main corridor an d it is easy for people to come in to pay a visit to the Blessed Sacrament and to attend Mass. Our chapel is always open and is situated centrally on the main corridor. However, most patients will be met upon the wards and it is in the routine of visiting that most of our work is done. The chaplain will be trying to understand the needs of those he comes in contact with and to meet those needs to the best of his ability. Always, at the heart of our work will be The Lord in the Blessed Sacrament guiding what we do and coming in Holy Communion to those we serve. As we carry Our Lord around the hospital we need to remind ourselves from time to time just who it is that we bring to the patients in our care. It is our privilege to carry Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament and especially to do so to those who are dying, so that He may be food for their journey. One of the privileges of this life as a chaplain is sometimes to be with patients at the moment of death.


Catholic Patients

As well as the chapel the hospital supports the chaplain in providing an office with equipment and a list of Catholic patients. In these days of data protection this list is not a fully comprehensive one but it does provide a basis on which to work.


The Hospital Chaplaincy Community

It is good also to have associated with our work sisters and lay people who come into the hospital regularly to visit patients and to give them Holy Communion. These volunteers bring another presence into the chaplaincy service and they can break down barriers as they meet in a more informal way those patients who have lost touch with the Church. The satisfaction of this ministry is its closeness to people at a difficult stage in their life whether they are patients or relatives and so to walk besides them on their journey.

Article date: February 2008