Being a Catholic Nurse
I want to share some thoughts about how being of Catholic heritage has intersected with my being a nurse.
Many Catholic-heritage people I know care deeply, sometimes without regard for their own bodies and health. Our Catholic culture emphasizes service and selflessness.
I started in health care when I was eleven years old. I helped an elderly neighbor, and she told some friends about it. That led to my helping some other elderly females with meals, cleaning, and getting ready for bed. They paid me, and I gave some of the money to my mother to use for food, gasoline, and housing expenses. My siblings did the same with money from their jobs (babysitting, delivering newspapers, working at fast-food restaurants). It was all about service and family and contributing to the family. It was important that everybody contributed and was taken care of.
Where I am from (the United States), nurses are sometimes seen as “angelic” and pure. Historically in some countries, nurses were trained in Catholic hospitals and not allowed to date, be married, or have children. They were expected to plan for a life of service. They were to follow rules, follow doctors’ orders, and take care of patients.
People generally know so little about what nurses do. At the end of a shift, some of us are filthy and covered in germs. We often deal with every bodily function and fluid. We face uncertainty, along with our patients. Doing the job has allowed me to see people in their most human moments when pretense falls away.
I remember working with a male patient in a veterans’ hospital. He was about to get violent. Hospital security was called. Everybody was scared. I saw an opportunity to use myself as a female. I showed complete respect for him and asked him to stay in the hospital (which he did). That seemed to allow him to feel human and prevented the security guards from using physical force (they were all male and armed with weapons).
During the pandemic, nurses, nursing assistants, and other health care workers have worked long hours while feeling a lot of fear. We have not always been able to speak up for ourselves. My Catholic distresses have contributed to my feeling responsible for everything yet unable to speak about or change anything.
A Catholic nurse fought for me when I was being targeted by someone else’s confusion. She stood up for me [defended me] in a meeting in front of many middle- and owning-class people who were not of Catholic heritage and did it without shaming anyone. It has been a model for me of how to stand up for other workers!
The health care system is oppressive. We Catholics use our minds in all kinds of ways to keep going. There’s much to discharge.
People need to listen to and counsel health care workers, both for themselves and because everything that happens in health care affects everyone. Nurses are tired and can feel discouraged, which directly impacts health care for an entire community. It is in our interest to be “all for one, and one for all” in matters of health care.
Seattle, Washington, USA
Reprinted from the RC e-mail discussion list for leaders of Catholics
(Present Time 206, January 2022)