January 22, 2019
Open Letter to
Jersey City Police and Emergency Medical Staff:
On Friday January
18, 2019 at 4 PM a patrol car and two ambulances responded to a
medical emergency here at 20 Greenville Avenue, Jersey City, our
Magnificat Home boarding home for single women. The team was entirely
diligent, focused and professional in reviving the patient and
getting her to the ICU in Bayonne. There was a problem, however,
regarding access for the Catholic priest to administer the sacrament
of Anointing of the Sick.
In their otherwise
correct focus, for over an hour, on reviving and sustaining the
patient, they firmly resisted access by the priest, on two occasions,
to anoint with the sacrament. Reluctantly, as the ambulance prepared
to depart, access was granted for the anointing on the forehead with
blessed oils, a process that took about 5 seconds.
Medics and police
need to know two facts about a Catholic who is in danger of death:
First, the emergency
anointing by a priest can be done in five seconds without
interrupting their work.
Second, for an
observant Catholic, access to this sacrament, when in danger of
death, is of absolute, ultimate importance.
Several comments by the medics and officers signaled that they did not understand what we wanted: "She may not be leaving here at all." "She is not dead yet." "We will let you pray before we leave."
Fortunately, the
patient was anointed and stayed alive another 36 hours before
expiring in the ICU. Had she, however, expired during that hour
without the sacrament it would have been, from a Catholic
perspective, an unnecessary tragedy and an unjust deprivation of a
religious right.
Experienced priests
and medics have assured me that ordinarily there is no problem as the
priest is granted access without any conflict and without disrupting
the emergency procedure. Surely, simple information on the two points
above (the brevity and gravity of the anointing) provided to medics
and police will suffice to prevent this problem going forward.
Thank you for your
attention to this!
Matt Laracy
Director, Magnificat
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