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Health Care Chaplaincy in Romania

My name is Gabriella, Lakatos, I represent the Transylvanian Reformed Chaplaincy work in Romania since 1998 when first time I meet the European Network of Health Care Chaplaincy Consultations. It was a starting point in my life being with this group and I got several starting issues for my new working field in a huge hospital at Targu Mures, Transylvania, Romania. I was the first full time hospital chaplain here and with so little experience. I was studying at Cluj, in the Protestant Theological Institute to become a pastor at 1990 first year after our revolution, and I finished at 1995. After two years of assistant pastoral work in my home city, Tg.Mures our church had a protocol agreement with the Romanian state that after one Orthodox priest our hospital must chose one other pastor from other confessions. So I was the first state employed hospital chaplain, appointed by our bishop Kaman,Csiha. The main low appeared just in 2000 when some other chaplains were coming for shorter or longer period. The Health Care Ministry at Bucharest was given for several chaplains the possibility to work in a specified hospital, but this employment depends on hospital vision and mentality about spiritual care services but mainly by their political visions.
Now we have a working team as Protestant (Reformed, Unitarian) and Catholic chaplains have a good dialog and friendship. In total we are around 20 chaplains in Romania. On this year we try to reach out our fellow chaplains from Hungary too.

My theological studies were not enough so I went to Belfast Bible College at 1996 and Oxford in the same year to study Pastoral Care and Counseling, and between 2002-2004 for 3 years I studied for a diploma at Semmelweis University at Budapest, Mental Hygiene Institute and KLOE /Ecumenical Health Care Association also 480 hours of Pastoral Psychology, Clinical and Family counseling studies.

I realized from the beginning that I need a working team from pastors and volunteers. I was praying years for this, and on these days I can say that in my hospital now we are 5 pastors and priests and three groups of volunteers. We also have the European Standards and ours too. From 2006 we can officially celebrating the 11 February, the official day for Sick people, accepted by our Synod too. We were asking for a Playing Room at our hospital, for children with hematological problems, and last year it was open.

OUR PROGRAMS AND TASKS

OUR FUTURE VISION

We don’t want to make our own visions just by God, our Lord’s. We try to establish an association, but never work still now. The new chaplain's main goal is to study because our school was not providing enough information and practice. Just few years ago begun some courses at pastoral and counseling studies, leader was here Dr.Hezser Gabor protestant pastor and pastoral psychologist from Germany, who put some basement here in Hungarian Language.

- To have more detailed dialog between confessions
- We want to organize supporting groups for Mothers, people with cancer problems.
- Found rising for children with transplant operations
- Relationship with parishes, churches, deacons and home care givers.
- We are hoping and praying for a possibility to organize here, in Transylvania a Network Consultation in the future

Rev Gabriella Lakatos 
Transylvanian Protestant Reformed Health Care Chaplaincy
Romania,
 

 

[May 2006]

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RELIGIOUS ASSISTANCE IN THE HOSPITALS IN ROMANIA

At the end of 2003 about 185 priests, paid by the National Office of Health Security were registered in hospitals and in social care settlements in Romania. Along with them are another 108 priests paid by State Departments for Cults and by Dioceses. Together with those mentioned, priests from parishes support religious assistance in those institutions by answering all sorts of requests and organizing philanthropic events.

At that moment 218 chapels and churches are used or are in different building stages; even so, in many hospitals, services are held in conference halls, meeting halls or other spaces. Chapels were built under close supervision of local hierarchies, with consistent help from hospital managers and with material support of many generous donors.

Through all liturgical programs, by celebrating Holy Sacraments and other services, by providing hours of pastoral care, the presence of the priests in those institutions is very positive, both for suffering people and for personnel.

Even with such a large number of priests working full time in hospitals, there is a great need to increase their number. Unfortunately, there is no material possibility to do that now. The large amount of work is trying to be covered on a voluntary basis by local parish priests and church related organizations.
As an overall view, religious assistance in state institutions is carried out by 438 priests among whom 330 are paid from the state budget. All over the country there are about 282 churches or chapels designated for such special mission, and another 69 under construction.

Combining health assistance with spiritual care was very useful, both because of bringing again a sense of life in those assisted and keeping them safe from proselytism of different so-called religious movements.

Being aware of the necessity of extending religious assistance to every area of social life outside parish, we see the great need of intensifying all contacts between Church and all state institution and community representatives.

Fr. Gabriel Cazacu

[August 2004]

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