“Invalids in the parish. A priority”: the theme of the “Day of the invalid 2003”, to be celebrated in Spain and throughout the world on 11 February, epitomizes the attitude that parish communities are called to assume towards the sick. “Nowadays health care is being increasingly organized at the domiciliary level point out the Spanish bishops of the episcopal Commission for the ministry of health-care in a message issued to mark the Day -. Health care is experiencing a shift to which the Church cannot remain indifferent. A good service to health care and to the sick necessarily entails the promotion of health itself, in other words the proposal of life-styles and values, to generate a new culture of health and illness, to promote solidarity, to integrate the weakest members in the community…”. To this end the episcopal Commission has distributed pastoral materials in all Spanish parishes with the aim of “investigating the situation of the sick and their families; raising the awareness of parish communities about their healing mission at the service of the Gospel; and promoting the action of the parish community in the world of health care”. The faithful are also being asked to fill in a questionnaire to appraise their familiarity or not with the situation of invalids within the community, the existence of groups of volunteers in the health-care sector and the real participation of invalids in the life of the community.
