The Rev. John Wykes, director of the St. Francis Chapel at Boston’s soaring Prudential Center, and the Rev. Tom Carzon, rector of Our Lady of Grace Seminary, were among the priests who were turned away right after the bombings. It was jarring for Father Wykes, who, as a hospital chaplain in Illinois a decade ago, was never denied access to crime or accident scenes.
“I was allowed to go anywhere. In Boston, I don’t have that access,” he says.
But Father Wykes says he has noticed a shift in the societal role of clergy over the past few decades: “In the Bing Crosby era””in the ’40s, ’50s, ’60s””a priest with a collar could get in anywhere. That’s changed. Priests are no longer considered to be emergency responders.”
“‘I was allowed to go anywhere. In Boston, I don’t have that access,’ he says.
“But Father Wykes says he has noticed a shift in the societal role of clergy over the past few decades…”
I’m pretty sure it has more to do with the times, than with any difference between Chicago and Boston. I have observed a similar development in hospitals, since HIPPA came along. With my collar on, I used to be able to go into emergency rooms, pray with patients while the MDs and nurses worked on them, and make entries on patients’ charts. Some doctors would include me in the meetings when they told the patients and families what the prognosis was, and what the patients’ options were. I was considered part of a team, all hands working together to restore the patient to health.
In the present climate I’ve become someone from whom the patient has to be protected. It’s sad, but under the circumstances described in the WSJ article, I’m not sure the police could have acted any different, except possibly to give latitude to known police and fire chaplains to have access to the victims.
Pax Christi!
Chuck Bradshaw
Hulls Cove, Maine