May a Catholic nurse work on Sundays?

[kana]

As an addedum to my question on the ‘legitimacy of vigil Masses,’…
I am studying to become a Registered Nurse. My rad-trad friends say that any GOOD Catholic would NEVER work on a Sunday as it is reserved as the Sabbath and holy. That I am required to find another job that allows me never to work on a Sunday…even if that means less ‘prestige’ or less money. That there are plenty of pagans and prots who can work on Sundays instead.
Please provide me with official Catholic doctrine/teachings on this matter…and if it is prior to Vat 2, all the better!
Thanks again!
Katherine

 

[Fr.Vincent_Serpa]

Dear kana,

I hope your rad-trad friends are never patients in a hospital on a Sunday. Nursing the sick on Sunday is a work of mercy. What is with those people?
Mother Teresa nursed the sick on Sunday, for God’s sake. (And I mean that literally!)

Furthermore: the Sabbath is NOT Sunday. It remains on Saturday since it is a part of the Old Law. Sunday has taken its place for Christians. It is the day of the Resurrection and is the Lord’s Day. But it is not the Sabbath!

As for teachings on this that are prior to Vatican II, how about the Gospel of Mark 3: 1-6? The Pharisees were watching to see if Jesus would heal a man’s withered hand on the Sabbath. Jesus asked: “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath rather than evil, to save life rather than to destroy it?” But they remained silent. The Gospel goes on: “Looking around at them with anger and grieved at their hardness of heart, Jesus said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out and his hand was restored.”

Priests work hard on Sunday. Nurses do also. The services of both are needed on Sunday. Certanly, you are obliged to keep the Lord’s Day as holy as you can. But know that the Lord is standing at your side as you serve the people He loves.

Your friends are in my prayers.

Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.