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A Catholic advocacy organization is asking people to contact The Ottawa Hospital to protest its decision to end daily Catholic mass in favour of a focus on bedside consultations.
Hospital spokesperson Rebecca Abelson confirmed the shift in the way spiritual care is provided at The Ottawa Hospital on Friday.
“Recently, TOH (The Ottawa Hospital) made some changes in the way it delivers spiritual care services to better meet the needs of patients. Many patients now prefer a bedside consultation with a spiritual care provider because they are unable to attend services in person. To meet these needs, we offer more spiritual care support — covering a range of spiritual support, including smudging — at patients’ bedsides.”
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A priest continues to provide mass once a week at both the Civic and General campuses, she added. “That ensures our patients are still able to take part in communal worship.” The hospital has also said it will offer masses on significant religious days.
Previously, a 30-minute Catholic mass was offered every weekday at both the Civic and General campuses and on one weekend day at each of the campuses. Anglican services and Muslim prayers were held once a week at each campus where prayer rooms are available, as is bedside spiritual service.
The shift has caused a stir among some local Catholics and has been covered in the Catholic media.
One Ottawa resident, Maureen Forsythe, said the suggestion that cancelling daily mass will improve the model for delivering spiritual care for Catholic patients and their families “does not withstand any serious scrutiny.”
The Catholic Civil Rights League, a Canadian lay Catholic advocacy and lobbying organization, has called the move “bizarre,” noting that bedside care does not replace Mass. In a statement, it also said the removal of daily mass is of particular concern at the General campus “which owes its existence to the Sisters of Charity, the Grey Nuns, who founded it in 1839.”
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