This initiative aims to address the country's urgent need for medical professionals while integrating Catholic values into medical education.

"The need for medical professionals in the UK is enormous" a university spokesperson acknowledged.

As London's Catholic university, St Mary's says the school will prioritise ethics-based education and focus on compassionate, patient-centred care.

"Our Catholic mission is integral to our values. We will ensure that our students can flourish with the best possible support" said the spokesperson.

The university aims to produce "ethically discerning" graduates in their medical practice, reflecting its Catholic identity.

Founding Dean of the School of Medicine, Professor Michael Bewick, added "Complemented by the existing successful Allied Health and Sports Science provision, St Mary's is the natural place to establish a forward-thinking centre of medical training".

Cornerstone of the University's plan

In a press release regarding the new Catholic medical school, the university said it had received assurance that it is "on track and making good progress toward required standards for medical education".

According to the release, the university is currently ranked in the country's top 10 for student experience. It is also ranked in the top 5 for teaching quality.

St Mary's Vice-Chancellor, Professor Anthony McClaran, said "The launch of a School of Medicine is a cornerstone of the University's plan for strategic growth and is in keeping with our tradition of delivering a sustained, positive impact on society.

"The school will contribute to the workforce development demands in the UK for more doctors and medical professionals. And it will also train global professionals able to work anywhere in the world" McClaran claimed.

"Our approach to developing the whole person during students' time at SMU will mean medics of the future will leave this university with the technical and personal skills they need to deliver truly holistic, compassionate, patient-centred care" McClaran said.

Sources

Catholic News Agency

St Mary's University

"Deathbed Etiquette" highlights the importance of good accompaniment of dying people.

The guide, is produced by The Art of Dying Well, a project supported by the university.

The university says its new guide draws on the experiences of hospital chaplains, palliative care consultants, nurses, friends and relatives and includes a raft of practical tips.

Jo Elverson, a consultant in palliative medicine at St Oswald's Hospice, Newcastle says she found those closest to the dying person are best placed to help them to die peacefully.

She encourages families at the bedside to follow their instincts.

"Sometimes, they need confidence, permission if you like, to do what they believe is the right thing."

Another palliative care consultant said she hoped the guide communicated "that dying is not a clinical event. It is a normal event in someone's life".

The launch of the guide coincides with a Onepoll survey commissioned by the Art of Dying Well and St Mary's University which asked 2,000 people across the UK whether they were prepared to be at the bedside of a loved one as they were dying.

The Poll highlighted that women outnumbered men in their responses to the two most extreme positions.

Almost twice as many women as men said they were totally prepared to die and women than men also considered themselves to be totally unprepared!

The Poll also confirmed older respondants felt better prepared to sit by the bedside of a dying person.

Almost a quarter of people aged over 55 (23 per cent) said they were totally prepared, while only 12 per cent for those aged 18 to 34 felt this way.

This finding is in line with the experience of our experts who have found that the ability to cope with death and dying increases with age.

Sources

• The Tablet
• Image: Theran Times

The two-day conference, co-hosted by the Pontifical Council for Culture and the University of Kent, began by launching the global "Understanding Unbelief" programme, presenting results from its research.

The multidisciplinary research programme is led by the University of Kent in collaboration with St Mary's University Twickenham, Coventry University and Queen's University Belfast.

Their findings - published in a report "Understanding Unbelief: Atheists and Agnostics around the World" - mapped the nature and diversity of 'unbelief' across Brazil, China, Denmark, Japan, UK and the USA.

Unbelievers were asked about their attitudes to issues such as supernatural phenomena, whether the "universe is ultimately meaningless" and what values matter most to them.

Interim findings show that in all the countries, the majority of unbelievers identified as having 'no religion'.

However, unbelief comes in many forms and the research report notes unbelievers exhibited significant diversity both within and between different countries.

The researchers also found that a lack of belief in God didn't necessarily entail unbelief in other supernatural phenomena.

Rather, they found the majority of unbelievers expressed belief in one or more supernatural phenomena.

Perhaps surprisingly, as it is contrary to popular belief, the report says only around a third of unbelievers in each country regard the universe to be ultimately meaningless.

Unbelievers' views on morality and values were also under the researchers' spotlight.

They report finding most unbelievers endorse objective moral values, human dignity and attendant right. They also support the "deep value" of nature, at similar rates to the general populations in their countries.

Likewise, unbelievers and general populations agree about the values they think are most important for "finding meaning in the world and your own life".

Both rank "family" and "freedom" highly.

"These findings show once and for all that the public image of the atheist is a simplification at best, and a gross caricature at worst. Instead of relying on assumptions about what it means to be an atheist, we can now work with a real understanding of the many different worldviews that the atheist population includes," one of the researchers says.

"The implications for public and social policy are substantial - and this study also stands to impact on more everyday interactions in religiously diverse societies."

Source

• The Tablet
• Image: Pew Research Centre