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 8/18/2004
Vol. 1, No. 14
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Professional
Practice |
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Rev. Greg Brown
on emotional intelligence in
ministry
What
Makes Some Chaplains Effective?
What makes some
chaplains effective and others
not? Perhaps we think of those
who have set our spirits afire
or called out the best in us.
Perhaps we remember their vision,
organizational savvy or powerful
word. More than likely, however,
we also remember them for something
else –mature emotional
connection.
In talking about
the essence of effective leadership,
the late Dr. Edwin Friedman refers
to a leader’s capacity
to offer a “non-anxious
presence”to those in need.
It is a fine balance requiring
the skills of a leader. To assert
authority without empathic connection,
he says, is to commandeer. To
offer empathy without authority
is to commiserate helplessly.
The challenge of leadership,
Friedman asserts, is to remain
both non-anxious and present.
This is the challenge to today’s
caregivers in health care settings.
A chaplain arrived
at his new position to find that
due to a long-standing personality
impasse between a co-chaplain
and the administrator of the
facility, the entire staff was
frozen with anxiety. Passive/aggressive
behavior abounded. In an effort
to remain “low profile”amid
this atmosphere, the chaplain
busied himself deflecting the
pulls first from the other chaplain
and then from the administrator
to take sides in the battle.
The more passive the new chaplain
tried to be the more anxious
the staff grew. They were obviously
waiting for someone to take charge
of this unfortunate situation.
It was not until the new chaplain
realized his error and decided
to change his tact, confront
both the co-chaplain and the
administrator and begin to outline
acceptable behavior with both
in the same room together, that
things began to change. While
understandably nervous internally,
he displayed empathy and resolve
to the two warring factions.
After the new chaplain acted,
tensions dissipated.
Corporate consultant
Daniel Goleman writes in his
most recent book, Primal
Leadership: Realizing the Power
of Emotional Intelligence, “Understanding
the powerful role of emotions
in the workplace sets the best
leaders apart from the rest –not
just in tangibles such as better
business results and the retention
of talent, but also in the all-important intangibles,
such as higher morale, motivation,
and commitment.”Such healthy
elements of ministerial life
require of each pastoral leader
a sure dose of non-anxious presence
and a savvy handling of emotional
intelligence.
Effective leadership
requires the ability to choose
between different leadership
styles amid varying contexts.
As the chaplain discovered in
handling the impasse between
his two colleagues, assertive
action may be necessary when
all gears are stuck in order
to get the machinery moving again,
even if this particular style
may only be useful in the short
term.
Still, there are
other styles with a broader range
of impact. Goleman suggests four:
- Visionary –when
changes require a new vision
or when clear direction is
needed
- Coaching –to
help colleagues improve performance
by building skills
- Affiliative –to
heal rifts in a team, motivate
during stressful times, or
strengthen connections
- Democratic –to
promote consensus and encourage
valuable staff input
Flexible leadership
requires a discerning eye both
inwardly in terms of remaining
non-anxious and present to the
community of workers and outwardly
in terms of the appropriateness
of response. Effective caregivers
work on this regularly and seek
support for the effort. They
recognize the importance of staying
connected to themselves as well
as their constituents and colleagues.
To underestimate the need for
such emotional intelligence in
ministry is to invite ineffectiveness
and eventual burnout.
Rev. Greg
Brown is an ordained member of
the Baltimore-Washington Conference
of the United Methodist Church and
a member of its Conflict Transformation
Taskforce. He has served local
parishes for over 20 years and
has been a pastoral counselor
for over 12 years. Currently
he coaches pastors and chaplains
and facilitates “Clergy
Case Teleconference”groups
nationwide. The next series of
groups will begin in mid-September.
For more information, see “Conferences,
Workshops and Educational Opportunities”or
visit his web site at www.gregbrownonline.com.
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Advocacy |
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Rev. Dr. Eric Smith on gaining administrative
support, part II
Working
Towards a Dialogue Between Friends
In the last issue
of PlainViews, Eric wrote
about his efforts to discover what
it takes to gain administration’s
support in this era of cost cutting
and competing for valuable resources,
through interviewing 15 senior
administrators from eight different
hospitals in three different states.
Having analyzed their responses,
he moves on to positive actions
that he used to make changes at
his facility.
Our very livelihoods and ministries
rely upon the acceptance, the value,
and the resources our administrators
give us. Through the coupling of
my own experiences with information
gained in those personal interviews,
here are some suggestions:
- Speak from a position
of wealth, not poverty. Think, “Wow!
I’ve got something to offer!”—not, “Oh
woe is me.”Do not approach
it as one who has a need, but
as one who has discovered a way
to make a contribution. Consider
the bottom line and make sure
your idea or request will in
some way positively impact the
overall mission of the organization.
- Talk their language. They
need concrete data in order to
make decisions. We religious professionals
have our own terms and concepts,
but these may not be familiar or
meaningful to them. Their language
is data, analysis, cost computation
and comparisons, and financial
or volume impact. If you do not
know how to acquire, analyze, and
present this important data affecting
your project or proposal, ask your
finance or marketing departments,
even administration, for help in
learning this. Almost all administrators
expect some kind of cost/benefit
analysis to be included in your
request. One administrator said, “Nine
out of ten times when I say ‘no’to
something, it is not because it
seemed like such an unreasonable
idea; it is because I have not
been given enough information to
thoroughly evaluate and appreciate
this option.”
- Use the FAB Concept.
Focus on three things: Features,
Advantages, and Benefits. A
feature is a physical attribute
of a product or service. An advantage
is what the product or service
does. And, benefits are what
the customer gets. For example,
there was no money budgeted for
clergy workshops when I arrived
at Sierra Providence Health Network.
I sold administration on this
by using the FAB Concept. The
features included a gathering
of community clergy and faith
group representatives at one
of our hospitals. We invite them,
provide space, refreshments,
and speakers. The advantages
included getting clergy familiar
with our facilities and with
some key staff members and physicians,
and giving them important information
about a medical specialty of
ours. The benefits to us were
that these natural referral agents
will feel connected to us and
key staff members, will recommend
that their parishioners choose
our hospitals, and our business
will increase and our bottom
line will be enhanced (besides
my initial goal of offering caring,
supportive ministry and helpful
information to our area clergy).
- Pastorally care for and
support your administrators. The
most critical factor in gaining
administration’s support
is the pastoral care they receive
from you and your staff for themselves,
their patients, and their employees.
Most said to me in their own
words, “Be the chaplain
or pastoral caregiver we hired
you to be, but don’t leave
us out.”Now think about
it — the
best way for them to realize
our value is to have personally
experienced it themselves.
Show your administrators you care
about them and what they care about.
Do everything reasonable to foster
a relationship of trust and mutual
respect. By doing these things, when
you have a request to make, your
deliberations will not be a contest
or battle between adversaries, but
a dialogue between friends.
Rev. Dr. Eric E. Smith, BCC, serves
as administrative director of spiritual
care services for Sierra Providence
Health Network, a system of for-profit
hospitals in the greater El Paso, Texas,
area. He is a United Methodist Chaplain
who formerly served as Senior Chaplain/Director
of Pastoral Care at Harris Methodist
H-E-B and Springwood Hospitals, Bedford,
Texas.
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Education & Research |
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Rabbi Sandra Katz on
charting our encounters
How
Can We Use Our Strengths
As Documenters
to Show the Vital Role We Play on the Care Team?
Before our last National
Association of Jewish
Chaplains (NAJC) conference
in Boca Raton, Florida,
our coordinators asked
me to prepare a session
on documentation. This
article comes from that
experience.
When our long-term care
facility underwent its
first JCAHO inspection,
it did not have a chaplain.
I figured that having
hired a chaplain, my
facility would impress
the surveyor; but the
surveyor had other plans.
Since then, I have worked
on the subject of documentation,
hoping to find a data-capturing
method that is clear,
concise, comprehensible,
and respectful of counselees.
Actually, just arriving
at criteria for documentation
solved a great deal of
the confusion.
“If you don’t document
it, you didn’t do it,”
as we say in my facility.
The surveyor nailed me
on initial assessment.
I had no explicit guidelines
for what to document
or how to go about it.
I still chafe at the
idea that I can “assess”
someone. Aware of the
weaknesses in my own
soul, and carrying a
pastoral directive that
tells me to let loose
of judgment, I tremble
to think that I could
judge another. But, the
surveyor decreed that
we needed to have a process
by which I would attest
that I had assessed each
new resident. I wanted
a way to indicate what
I had learned about the
rich lives of the people
in my care.
I looked at a number
of other chaplains’ assessment
tools. I made numerous
attempts to create a
simple one-page tool
for myself. Truth is,
I objected to using the
documents I found. Many
of them assumed that
the subject was Christian,
and others categorized
people in ways that I
found to be unspiritual.
I aspired to make spiritual
care different, a discipline
that allows people to
be who they are and where
they are.
In the end, I developed
a set of parameters informed
by Dr. Christine Puchalski’s
“FICA” model. I modified
Faith, Interest, Community
and Address. I look at
Background, Interest,
Community, Pain & Loss
(suggested by my boss,
Reuben Schonebaum), and
Approaches. I envisage
something better, but
at least these parameters
enable a conversation
that can still feel pastoral.
I also had the “Pastoral
Care note” formatted
for my computer so that
I can key in my first
piece of documentation
for each new resident.
In our NAJC conference
session, we spoke of
alternate models for
documentation, especially
in a hospital setting.
Some facilities use peel-and-stick
notes in patient charts.
We heard about one facility
that gave the chaplain
a hand-held computer
for his documentation.
I ended my presentation
with the notion that
documentation may provide
increased job security,
because it points to
our effectiveness and
usefulness.
I hope that this article
starts a wider dialogue
about the process of
documenting our work.
How do we use criteria
that open rather than
close? How do we go in
without an agenda when
we have a form to fill?
How do we make a pastoral
care plan without promising
something we cannot deliver?
How can we use our strengths
as documenters to show
the vital role we play
on the care team?
Rabbi
Sandra Katz has
served as chaplain of the
Golden Slipper Uptown Home,
a Jewish long-term care
and rehab facility in Northeast Philadelphia,
since March of 1999. She
was ordained from Hebrew
Union College - Jewish
Institute of Religion in
1993 and earned her board
certification from NAJC
in 2001. |
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Spiritual
Development |
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Dr. Diane
Bridges on helping parents
to cope
Threads
of Love
“Before I
formed you in the womb,
I knew you. Before
you were born, I consecrated
you.” Jeremiah
1:5
Threads of Love is
a Christian sewing ministry
meeting the needs of
tiny premature infants
or for families who experience
an infant death or stillbirth.
When a parent is faced
with this tragedy, the
Social Work, Obstetrical,
and Religious & Spiritual
Care team provide a package
containing a crocheted
or knitted cap, day gown,
booties, “lovie”doll
and a culturally sensitive
prayer for healing.
The ministry started
in Baton Rouge, Louisiana,
and has chapters all
across the United States.
Trillium Health Centre
is the first institution
in Canada to offer this
resource in partnership
with Threads of Love.
Volunteers from a local
church gather one afternoon
each month to work. Tiny
ribbon rosettes, intricately
embroidered stitches,
seed pearls and gossamer
fabrics are the raw materials
used by the ladies to
create the precious gifts
which so sensitively
and gently say “You
are loved.”
In a past article for
a local newspaper Patricia
Paddley wrote:
“There
is a sense of something
almost sacred about the
garments they make in
purest white, palest
pink or delicate blue.
The smallest of the gowns,
measuring no more than
six inches in length,
could be used to dress
a tiny doll, booties
would fit a small finger,
knitted bonnets a small
orange....Love dolls,
crafted from toddler
socks, are designed to
be worn next to a mother’s
skin to pick up her scent,
and then placed in an
incubator to comfort
a struggling newborn.”
To date Threads
of Love has donated
over 1,000 items to
Trillium Health Centre,
but over the past year
the funding started
to become very difficult
for the ladies from
the church. When I
realized this, I approached
the local organizer
and my vice president
to see if we could
partner. Spiritual & Religious
Care would provide
the financial resources
from our budget and
the ladies could keep
sewing. What an affirmation
from both perspectives
of the value of this
ministry.
We wanted to respect
the intent of the spiritual
foundation of the Threads
of Love mission
so we sought permission
from Sissy Davis, the
American National Head
in Baton Rouge, to enter
into this covenant. With
whole-hearted enthusiasm
the permission was given.
This is the first time Threads
of Love has been
sponsored by a hospital’s
spiritual & religious
care programme.
I encourage all my colleagues
to click onto www.threadsoflove.org to
learn more about this
amazing outreach to families
in crisis.
Dr. Diane Bridges received
her doctor of ministry
degree from the University
of Toronto, St. Michael's
College. She is the director
of spiritual & religious
care at the Trillium Health
Centre in Mississauga,
Ontario, Canada, one of
Canada's top 100 employers,
and is a member of CAPPE/ACPEP
and the APC. She has authored
a number of articles on
bereavement and grief recovery.
Her passion is the healing
ministries.
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EthicsWalk |
EthicsWalk:
The Genealogy
of Sexual Harassment
Policies
Today, most adults in the United States know the term “sexual harassment.”
Educational institutions, government agencies, most work places and religious
judicatories have policies about sexual harassment. Both the term and
policies are phenomena of the past two decades.
Why
the recent focus?
Seeking to fulfill
sexual desire in
places of work, education
or worship is not
new. Three thousand
years ago the prophet
Nathan rebuked David
for fulfilling his
lust with the wife
of a soldier and
then using kingly
power to order the
man killed in battle.
(2Sam. 11-12) And,
American religious
history is replete
with stories of clergy-congregant
sexual liaisons.
But
the term “sexual
indiscretions” described,
and often excused,
such behavior. Male
religious and political
leaders were seen
either as “entitled”
to sexual prerogatives
or were pitied as
victims of female
temptresses within
their communities.
In
the last twenty years
a new perspective
has challenged these
liaisons. Leadership
entitlement (the
King David Syndrome)
and male vulnerability
(the Potipher’s Wife
Trap, Gen.39) are
no longer assumed.
An increasingly diverse
work force has prompted
most men and women
to view such behavior
as harmful.
“Sexual
harassment” first
achieved recognition
as a tort (wrong)
at civil law in 1986.
A feminist legal
scholar, Catherine
MacKinnon, coined
the term and brought
the first case to
reach the United
States Supreme Court.
[1]
The
Court gave three
guidelines for determining
if a sexual liaison
in the work place
constitutes harassment.
First, a voluntary
liaison (no gun held
to one’s head, no
threat of economic
loss or loss of status)
does not automatically
create a “welcome”
liaison. It must
be shown that the
relationship was
welcomed by both
parties. If it was
not, it could be
harassment.
Secondly,
when determining
if the liaison was
welcome, the fact-finder
must look to the
impact of the alleged
behavior on the alleged
victim, not the intent
of the accused. This
turns upside down
traditional analysis
in criminal and tort
law where the mens
rea (mind-set) of
the accused is the
focus, usually to
the exclusion of
a victim’s experience.
Thirdly,
the Court said that
when there is an
imbalance of power,
consent to a voluntary
liaison cannot be
assumed. Consent
is a matter of fact
to be determined
at trial.
Each
guideline confirms
the mandate of many
faith groups to heed
the voice of the
most vulnerable;
to honor the perspective
of the one with lesser
power.
These
guidelines shape
prohibitions and
policies regarding
sexual conduct in
the work place and
educational institutions.
[2] They also inform
the policies and
procedures of most
faith groups and
chaplaincy associations.
Policies address
everything from rape
and assault to unwanted
touching, unwelcome
attentions, jokes,
and language that
is derogatory and/or
sexually explicit.[3]
Respect
for persons and justice
in relationships
are the manifest
ethical principles.
The First Amendment
to the U.S. Constitution
prohibits the application
of Title VII in some
religious institutions
to clergy both as
victims and perpetrators.
(The First Amendment
to the U.S. Constitution
has been construed
to prohibit courts
from intervening
in allegations of
behavior by or against
clergy in some religious
institutions which
would otherwise violate
sex discrimination
[including sexual
harassment] laws.)
I encourage
you to respond to
this column.
The
next EthicsWalk will
consider why religious
bodies must address
formally sexual harassment
in their places of
worship, work and
education.
[1] Meritor
Savings Bank
v. Vinson,
477 U.S. 57 (1986)
A bank teller
terminated a
lengthy sexual
relationship
with her supervisor,
After being fired,
she sued the
bank claiming
the relationship
was not consensual
and that she
had felt harassed
by the supervisor’s
attentions. The
Court ruled that
harassment based
on gender constitutes
sex discrimination,
prohibited by
Title VII of
the Civil rights
Act of 1967 as
amended, and
that an employer
could be found
liable for the
conduct of its
supervisory employees.
[2] The same rules
and analysis have
been upheld by
the U.S. Supreme
Court as applying
to sexual conduct
between students
and teachers through
Title IX of the
Education Amendments
Act of 1972 which
prohibits sex discrimination
in educational
institutions.
[3] Most policies
incorporate the
E.E.O.C. statement: “Unwelcome
sexual advances
requests for sexual
favors, and other
verbal or physical
conduct of sexual
nature constitutes
sexual harassment
when (1) submission
to such conduct
is made either
explicitly or implicitly
a term or condition
of an individual’s
employment; (2)
submission to or
rejection of such
conduct by an individual
is used as the
basis for employment
decisions affecting
such an individual,
or (3) such conduct
has the purpose
or effect of unreasonably
interfering with
an individual’s
work performance
or creating an
intimidating, hostile,
or offensive working
environment.”29CRF
1604.11. Educational
institutions add “educational”to
employment situations.
Anne
Underwood has an
undergraduate degree
in religious studies,
a master’s degree
in rural sociology
and a mid-life
law degree obtained
after working over
a decade as a college
administrator.
She has mediated
for the Maine family
courts since 1983.
Currently she serves
as an advisor to
the ethics commissions
of ACPE, APC, the
CCAR (Central Conference
of American Rabbis),
and NAJC, and consults
with a variety
of Protestant faith
communities on
issues of power,
fair process, and
congregational
conflict management.
Her articles on
mediation and restorative
justice have appeared
in the ACPE News,
The APC News and
on the ACPE web
cite. Articles
on clergy accountability
and judicatory
processes are published
by the Alban Institute
and The Journal
on Religion and
Abuse. A chapter,
“Clergy Sexual
Misconduct: A Justice
Issue,” appears
in Body and Soul:
Rethinking Sexuality
as Justice-Love,
Marvin Ellison
and Sylvia Thorson-Smith,
editors, The Pilgrim
Press, 2003.
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Reviews |
Macky Alston reviews
the film A Life Apart:
Hasidism in America
A
Life Apart: Hasidism
in America
A Life Apart: Hasidism
in America provides
a rare, respectful
window into a religious
community and culture
often misunderstood.
It can serve as a great
tool for chaplains
who want to know more
about Hasidism or to
educate students and
colleagues about the
Hasidic way of life.
Between 1700 and 1760,
a Ukrainian known as
the Baal Shem Tov started
the Hasidic movement
as a spiritual revival
movement that advocated
prayer, joy and charity
and made spirituality
accessible to all. Prior
to the Baal Shem Tov,
scholarship was the road
to God, but the Baal
Shem Tov rejected asceticism
and considered the activities
of daily living, eating,
working, having sex and
raising children to be
spiritual acts.
Professor Arthur Hertzberg
of New York University
explains at the opening
of the film A Life
Apart: Hasidism in America that
the Hasids do not consider
themselves American,
or Polish, “or anything
else. Their prime identity
is the worship of the
Lord.”
As with all mystics,
their ultimate goal is
to lose themselves in
a transcendent state
of pleading to G-d. They
believe, as many Americans
do, that G-d is all around
and within. “G-d dwells
wherever man lets him
in,” they say.
Why are the Hasidic
Jews often perceived
as stubbornly refusing
to join America’s mainstream?
According to Professor
Hertzberg, the Hasidim
do all they can to protect
the integrity of their
sacred community: “Their
values are secure, their
roles are secure. Their
community is secure.
Their extended family
exists for them.” Mainstream
America struggles with
these issues.
“I don’t have a rosy
picture of the Hasidim,”
hospital chaplain Rabbi
Mychal Springer comments
in the film. She relates
how she was taking care
of a seven-year-old boy
undergoing a bone marrow
transplant. After several
visits, Rabbi Springer
was told that she could
no longer visit the child
because it was too confusing
and not good for the
little boy. “My skirts
weren’t long enough.
I didn’t cover my hair.
They wouldn’t let me
be there in the only
way I know how, to try
and ease some of that
pain.”
The Hasidim make a conscious
choice “to deny their
children the feasts of
America.” Hasids are
not physicians, or lawyers.
They do not attend college
or university, since
a basic premise of a
university is to examine
all values, and accept
that laws can be changed.
Men and women are in
close contact in a collegial
environment. So each
set of Hasidic parents
knows that the family
will earn a living within
the Hasidic enclave without
the academic degrees
that often measure success
in mainstream America.
This documentary focuses
on the theme of separation.
As one rebbe says: “We
will not modify the Torah
to fit America. We will
tailor America to fit
the Torah.” There is
much to admire, to struggle
with, and to learn about
the Hasidic sense of
community and the strength
of that community.
Macky Alston is the
director of Auburn Media,
a division of the Center
for Multifaith Education
at Auburn Theological Seminary
committed to supporting,
cultivating and promoting
powerful, engaging, balanced
and responsible media on
religion, spirituality
and ethics. He is a graduate
of Union Theological Seminary
and an award-winning documentary
filmmaker.
Completed: 1997
Running Time: 95 Minutes
A Life Apart: Hasidism in America aired
nationally on PBS
Produced by: Menachen Daum and Oren Rudavsky
Editor: Ruth Schell
Director of Photography: Oren Rudavsky
Written by: Menachem Daum and Robert Seidman
Director Photography: Tom Hurwitz
Narrators: Leonard Nimoy and Sarah Jessica Parker
Music: Yale Strom
Executive Producer: Arnold Labaton
If you are interested in purchasing this film you
can do so at www.hartleyfoundation.org.
Just click on “Masterworks” on the homepage for
more information. Both the VHS version and the
DVD version of the film are priced at $29.95. |
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