Calvary Public Hospital Bruce chaplain Father Alex Osborne counsels unsure staff

People smile and wave to each other; you recognise almost everyone you see.

But the atmosphere has been distinctly different in the last week, Father Alex Osborne said.

"There's this air of uncertainty," he said.

"In any hospital, nurses, doctors - all the staff - are focused on their patients. But I'm sure this is certainly at the back of their minds."

'This' is the compulsory acquisition.

Within weeks, the ACT government will start to transition the management of Calvary from the Catholic Church to Canberra Health Services.

They expect to be officially running things from July 3.

Nothing will change for staff, ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith has insisted.

They will keep their jobs. Nothing will change.

But there are overt differences between Calvary and Canberra hospitals.

For example, just outside Calvary's main entrance is a large statue of Mother Mary, carrying Jesus Christ as a bundle.

Enter, turn left, and you will come to the simply furnished chapel.

Alongside an opened Bible, picture of Pope Francis and small bowl of holy anointing oil, are Muslim prayer mats.

All religions - all people - are welcome, Father Alex said.

"It's a very diverse place. I don't think the majority of staff would be Catholic," he said.

"Anyone can work here. We pray together."

His primary role as chaplain is to counsel patients - usually Catholic - often performing the end-of-life sacrament, the Last Rites.

"Anyone of any religion, we will try our best to get a person from their faith if they need it," Father Alex said.

Father Alex is also an assistant priest at St Christopher's in Manuka, and works with Canberra's African community.

Through these roles, he knows a lot of the staff at Calvary outside the hospital.

"I have helped staff who are stressed or they've had to witness something or they feel guilty," he said.

"These are really the moments, if you are a person of faith, that you go running back to God. I make myself available to any of the staff, if they ever wanted to just be listened to."

Canberra Hospital has a spiritual support program, but Father Alex doesn't know what will happen to his role after the acquisition.

Canberra Health Services has a transition team and will set up town hall sessions at the AIS and Canberra Hospital.

But Father Alex can't predict what the hospital will look like in a few months.

He hasn't considered how many patients choose Calvary because they are Catholic; or what role faith plays for most of the staff.

Whether religious iconography will stay or go, and what the workers will think either way.

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As public debate turns sharply towards the Catholic Church, its position on abortion, euthanasia and controversial role in public healthcare - and powerful conservatives gear up to attack the ACT government - a shy, baby-faced priest stands by in a black cassock, hands clasped.

He is promising to offer salvation for the dying, comfort for the angry and wisdom for the distressed.

But he is unsure. Will he be asked to stay or go? And what role will faith play in ACT's public health system, now its biggest player has been told to leave?

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