It was late one night and I had been called to a local hospital to provide support for a patient who had just died. The family were devout Roman Catholics. The hospital had their own chaplain on call until 8PM. It was about 8:15 PM when I arrived. It was very important to the family that a priest ask a blessing for the deceased. The hospital chaplain, who was a priest, had been by earlier in the evening, when the old woman was alive, and the family had refused to let the priest pray for her. Now, a scant two hours later, she was dead. I asked the chaplain/priest to come and visit the family. He informed me that he was leaving for the day, but that he would come up and say a prayer for the family.
When he arrived, I remember distinctly that he chewed out the family: "I was here earlier and then you didn't want a prayer. What did you think was going to happen?"
