CHILDREN and teenagers admitted to hospital in an emergency are being given overnight packs by the Mothers’ Union.
Labelled “Caring for You”, each pack contains a toothbrush and toothpaste, baby soap, a face-cloth, and a brush or comb. Teenagers also receive shower gel and deodorant.
A pilot project at Pindarfields, the main hospital for the Wakefield area of West Yorkshire, was launched this week. The MU president-elect in the Wakefield episcopal area, Eileen Warburton, said: “Being admitted to hospital at short notice is an upsetting time for anyone, but for parents of young children and teenagers, it can feel very vulnerable and stressful when this occurs, and we just wanted to reach out and give them one less thing to worry about.
“We wanted to target the most vulnerable, and we are confident we will be able to help make a child or teenager’s first night in hospital easier.”
The packs carry a brief message from the Mothers’ Union, expressing the hope that the gift will help to make their stay in hospital easier.
The plan is to provide 20 bags a month. If successful, the local Mothers’ Union hopes to run it as part of its continuing outreach work. It welcomes donations.
Guilds heal rift after 100 years
THE Guild of St Raphael has celebrated the centenary of its founding by reuniting with the Guild of Health.
At a eucharist in Chester Cathedral last month, the Revd Rodney Middleton, sub-warden of the Guild of St Raphael, signed a covenant of reunion with the Revd Lucyann Ashdown, chair of the Guild of Health (above).
The Guild of Health was founded in 1904 to reinvigorate the ministry of healing in the C of E. An Anglo-Catholic group separated over doctrinal differences in 1915, to form the Guild of St Raphael. Three years later, the Guild of Health became ecumenical.
The new body will be called the Guild of Health and St Raphael. Messages of goodwill were read out from the two Archbishops.
A note by the Warden of the Guild of St Raphael, R. P. Roseveare, in the Church Times of 21 December 1917, said in part:
ITS constitution and rules have been drawn up with great care. Its aims are:—
(a) To unite in a fellowship of prayer within the Catholic Church those who trust in the Living Christ to preserve His faithful members in health, and to overcome by His grace all disease of soul and body.
(b) To revive the Sacrament of Holy Unction and the right of laying-on of hands for healing.
(c) To urge Catholic discipline as a necessary, condition for the right exercise of the gifts of healing, and to bring to the aid of this Ministry the spiritual forces of the Holy Silence, Meditation, and Intercession.
(d) To help to prepare the sick for all ministries of healing by teaching the need of repentance and faith. . .
In forming this Guild we recognized that other societies are searching and teaching, and that many books are being written, but that the Church is not using the powers she possesses in union with the Risen Christ. In the best and fullest sense of the term we are Catholics, and we believe whole-heartedly in the Sacraments. We have not succeeded yet in finding a bishop who will act as warden, but we are hopeful. We shall shortly open an office in London at 39, Gloucester-street, S.W., and the secretary will gladly meet inquirers there by appointment.