Nearly 5,000 people have signed a petition protesting against plans to turn a Christian hospital chapel into a Muslim prayer room.
The Spiritual Care Chaplaincy team at North Manchester General Hospital intends to change the way the Catholic Chapel of Saint Raphael is currently used in order to create a Muslim prayer room, the Catholic Herald reports.
Worship space will also be provided for Jewish people and Christians and there will in addition be a "quiet room" for people of no faith at all. However there will be no space that is specifically Catholic.
St Raphael's Chapel currently contains the Blessed Sacrament and Mass is celebrated weekly. According to a petition launched by Father Ged Murphy of St Patrick's and St Malachy's parish in Collyhurst, the chapel is well used and highly valued by patients, staff and visitors as a "valued resource which is much needed when people are at their lowest ebb."
In a letter to parishes, the Catholic chaplaincy at the hospital said: "We write to inform you of a proposal by the spiritual care chaplaincy Team at North Manchester General Hospital to close the Roman Catholic Chapel of St Raphael in order to convert it into a Muslim prayer room.
"Worship spaces are going to be provided for Muslims, Jews, and Protestant Christians, and even a 'Quiet Room' for people of no faith at all. Yet it is proposed that Catholics should have no space of their own.
"St Raphael's chapel contains the Blessed Sacrament and Mass is celebrated weekly. It is well used and highly valued by patients, staff and visitors at the hospital."
Rev John Hall, chaplaincy co-ordinator at the trust, told the Catholic Herald there were "no plans to close any facilities" but that they were "currently looking at how these chapels and rooms are used so that we have the best possible arrangements that meet everyone's needs."
Manchester councillor Pat Karney told Manchester Evening News: "I am very disturbed to hear of these plans. Thousands of Catholic families in north Manchester including my own have used this mini chapel. I will be meeting with the hospital bosses to clarify their intentions."
Rev John Hall from The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust denied plans to close or change the Catholic chapel. He said: "As a Trust we recognise how important the provision of dedicated faith and prayer rooms are at our hospitals for our staff, patients, carers and visitors of all faiths, and as such despite some media reports and comments and concerns posted on social media, we can confirm that the Trust has no plans to close any facilities, including the Catholic chapel here, and we will not be changing or converting this important and well used chapel into any other prayer room.
"We provide a number of chapels and dedicated faith and prayer rooms across our Trust including at the North Manchester General Hospital. As part of our efforts to improve our faith and spiritual care services across our hospitals, we are currently looking at how we can improve the access, availability and standard of our facilities for those of all faiths and for all that wish to use them for prayer and reflection.
"We continue to listen and engage with all parties of all faiths to ensure we are meeting the needs of everyone who wish to use our chaplaincy and spiritual care services and facilities. More information about our spiritual care and faith services are available on our website at www.pat.nhs.uk. I would welcome any comments and feedback on how we can improve access to our faith facilities across our hospitals."
