Pastoral assistant in action

Czech article Pastorační asistentka v akci, dated December 23, 2023  

If I want to keep my sanity, I have no choice but to write these days. To write not only with pain but also with humor, with irony.

Around 2002, I called myself a pastoral assistant in action because of the current Archbishopric's claims for the courts.
I haven't seen the movie Sister in Action, but its title inspired me to name this article. 

In January 1998 I was appointed pastoral assistant at the General Teaching Hospital in Prague 2, where Cardinal Vlk wrote to me: "I believe that not only your professional erudition as a physician, but also your rich Christian experience with suffering people will bring comfort, help and orientation to many patients in difficult life situations." Along with the so-called decree, I received a 1-year employment agreement.
In January 1999, another employment agreement explicitly stated the definition of employment: Pastoral assistant at the General Faculty Hospital.
According to the 2002 employment contract, I was supposed to work at the General Teaching Hospital in Prague, 8 hours a week. The job description 2003 was intended for the hospital. At that time my decree from Cardinal Vlk for this hospital was valid.

The Archbishopric to defend the 4th and 5th dismissals with the claim that I was supposed to work also at the Archbishopric's palace has done several spins. The Archbishopric's current view of what I was supposed to do at the time of the employment contract 2002, during 8 hours a week:
- go to several Prague hospitals (after all, "there were very few catechists who went to hospitals"!)
- go to Archbishopric's Palace in Hradčany
- go to Dejvice (Pastoral or Catechetical Center, maybe both)  where tasks were assigned. There was also "brainstorming, passing on experiences, writing up the achievements... all those experiences had to be somehow recorded and passed on";
- visit some schools here and there
- visit some prisons here and there
- sometimes visit the police and soldiers

Cherry at the end: November 30, 2023, Archbishop's written statement for the district court, says: "...she went to conferences without permission. It a priori follows that she could not perform her activities only at the hospital, but had to take orders from the defendant, report to the defendant, and pass on her experience."  

I would like to write that the tragicomedy culminates with this last quote. Unfortunately, it probably won't peak. We will see in the spring of 2024.