Nurses petition Irish government on freedom of conscience

November 27, 2018 CNA Daily News News Briefs 1 Print

Dublin, Ireland, Nov 27, 2018 / 01:00 pm (CNA).- Irish nurses and midwives have called on the government to protect their freedom of conscience following the legalization of abortion in the Republic of Ireland.

 

The group Nurses and Midwives 4Life Ireland presented a petition Nov. 27 to the Irish Health Minister, Simon Harris, signed by 350 registered nurses and midwives. In it, they asked Harris to ensure that they are not forced to participate in abortion procedures when they are introduced into the country’s healthcare system.

 

“We are dedicated, hardworking nurses and midwives who care for patients from conception to natural death,” the petition reads.

 

“We have a conscientious commitment to life which accords with the values inherent in Our Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics. We respect and defend the dignity of every stage of human life and we have a responsibility to make every valid or reasonable effort to protect the life and health of pregnant women and their unborn babies.”

 

Nurses 4Life say that they are concerned that the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill 2018 will obligate nurses to participate in abortions. The group defines participation as “any supervision, delegation, planning or supporting of staff involved in termination of pregnancy,” and says they worry that nurses who support the right to life of the unborn will be “victimized” in the workplace as abortion is made legal.

 

A press release from the group said that the Irish Nurses and Midwifery Organisation and Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland had been “inundated” with questions about how they would be affected by legalized abortion.

 

The text of the petition calls the situation an “unprecedented crisis in the Health Service” and says that the government has made “no effort” to consult the nursing or midwifery professions on the clinical implications of the new law.

 

Mary Kelly, a spokesperson for the group, told the Irish Examiner that while they had requested a meeting with the Health Minister, they had yet to receive a response.

 

“We really haven’t had a lot of consultation, our group has asked to meet the Minister and [Leader of the Opposition] Micheál Martin to ask what it is going to be like for us and how is the freedom of conscience going to work, because we are concerned with the way it’s worded in the actual act.”

 

In their petition, Nurses 4Life highlighted the case of Mary Doogan and Connie Wood, two Catholic midwives in Scotland who lost a court case to preserve their freedom of conscience after they were ordered to supervise and support fellow midwives who perform abortions.

 

That case was eventually heard by the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, which ruled against the midwives.

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From bartender to priest: ‘God is very insistent!’

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Santander, Spain, Jul 18, 2018 / 05:17 pm (ACI Prensa).- How do you go from being a bartender who has not attended Mass for 15 years to becoming a priest?

For Fr. Juan de Cáceres, the answer is that God was persistent in pursing his heart and revealing his call.

Today, Fr. Juan is a priest of the Diocese of Santander in Spain. But he had been away from the sacraments for 15 years when he had a conversion that allowed him to hear God’s call in his life.

After finishing his undergraduate studies, Juan enrolled in law school. However, he was not a good student, and in 2006, at the age of 28, he decided to quit law school to open a trendy bar in Santander.

However, with the onset of the economic crisis in Spain, what had initially promised to be a successful business became the focus of his financial problems, compounded by the crisis of turning 30 and feeling a lack of direction in his life.

“I was really lost, drowning in debt and with the [economic] crisis, there were almost no customers. In addition, my friends quit going out like they used to. They began to get married and stopped dating. I found myself all alone,” he said in an interview with the El Diario Montañés news.

While Juan had stopped going to Mass 15 years ago, a friend invited him to some talks on prayer, which became the turning point that changed his life.

At first, he went to the talks to spend time with his friend. But something within him changed little-by-little: he began to go to Mass again, returned to confession, and re-enrolled in school.

His life started to come together again, until two years after that new beginning, he “felt the call” to the priesthood.

But his first reaction was “to say no.”

“I came up with all kinds of objections: my work, my debts, my life. I thought what I needed to do was to settle down, meet a woman who would make me very happy and have a family. But God is very insistent! And from then on, he would not let that thought out of my heart or mind,” he told El Diario Montañés.

When he decided to discern a vocation, he asked then-Bishop Vicente Jiménez of Santander if he could enter seminary in another city, because “had to keep his distance” from his past life. He entered a seminary in Pamplona, about 120 miles away.

“I was working at the bar up to the day before going to Pamplona, where I spent three fantastic years,” he recalled. During that time, Fr. Juan also worked with the Chinese Catholic community.

He was ordained a priest last January and was assigned to serve four parishes in Santander. He also teaches religion classes three days a week to teenagers.

The experience of being a bartender ended up having value for the priest, who noted that during those years, “I was sort of a confessor to everyone.”

He also helps foster vocations in the diocese because as he explains, “a lot of people have felt the same way I did, but they haven’t figured out how to follow up…I’m here to listen and guide.”

 

This article was originally published by our sister agency, ACI Prensa. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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