father augustin conesa / chaplain

Father Augustin Conesa is Spanish and has been a chaplain at Barts and The Royal London for just over 4 months.  We were searching for a chaplain to photograph and after several attempts at reaching them via phone we had almost given up. The chaplaincy has 12 chaplains in total with representatives from Christian, Jewish and Islamic faiths; a challenging number for an institution of this size based over two sites. It was during another photo shoot that I spotted Father Augustin on his way to a meeting and he was immediately open to the idea of contributing to the project. As a priest from the Roman Catholic faith his career moves are decided by the diocese and ultimately by his manager, the Bishop. Before becoming a Chaplain he worked in India as a missionary and then in Israel for 1 year.

At present he is on call 24 hours a day, 5 days a week and must organise a rota with other local catholic priests to cover his days off. It can at times be busy, “I can get called out 3 times in one night and other times not at all”.  Like other jobs it’s also flexible and if his call outs have deprived him of sleep then the following day can begin slightly later.  Mass is held in the chapel, featured in the image and this is mainly for staff. The majority of his work is carried out at the bedside of sick patients “meeting people’s spiritual needs and supporting their families”.  He also pointed out that many patients worry when they see a priest as they associate it with the last rites, “but we also administer the anointing of the sick which is part of our pastoral care, so there is no need to worry”.