Dean tells 2,000 nurses that prayer is vital to health

The Dean of Westminster Abbey says spirituality has a key role to play in modern medicine, and Christians shouldn’t feel they have to pray in secret. The leading clergyman criticised the NHS decision to suspend nurse Caroline Petrie for praying for a patient. Speaking in a sermon to almost 2,000 nurses at the annual Florence Nightingale service, the Very Rev John Hall said that believers were increasingly keeping their faith to themselves for ‘fear of offending others.’ Yet this should not be, because prayer is ‘not a sin and should not be regarded as an offence’ and ‘the human spirit and spiritual health is fundamental to healing and wholeness.’ The service was attended by health workers from the NHS, armed forces and private sector.

Source: Daily Telegraph (14/5)