A question for those chaplains who are one-person departments: How are the discussions and completions of Advance Directives accomplished in your setting? Who initiates these conversations with patients? Is this the task of chaplains, social workers and/or patient representatives? Feedback information can be sent to: angela.lowe@lmh.org It would be helpful to know the number of beds in your setting, primary chaplain responsibilities and the ratio of chaplains to social workers.

Chaplain Angela Lowe
Lawrence Memorial Hospital
Lawrence, Kansas

Scripture in Counseling?

How do Chaplains feel about the use of Scripture in counseling or in visits to the sick? I can say that I almost never used Scripture as a response to a question, as an explanation, or for giving advice. This doesn't mean that I never read Scripture; often I would read the "daily readings" or short passages or even passages from tracts, but without applying them to "specific cases". Also, I would read Scriptures as part of prayers over the communications system for a daily short prayers. I feel that the use of Scripture in counseling is too open to misinterpretation, misunderstanding, and coercion to be used as a standard form of answering questions or giving advice. Although I believe that Scripture has power and is the "Word of G_d", it is easily twisted into the intention of the user and instead of G_d speaking, it becomes the word of a human with bias and power speaking. If a person asks a question about a particular Scripture, I would, if I
felt capable in a particular case, do my best to try to give a caring possible explanation, knowing that I need to keep in mind my own bias and inability and vulnerability.

Thank You,
John P. Stangle, Chaplain Advanced Emeritus, NACC

Re: Do Clothes make the Chaplain? Sandra Katz (PlainViews, 2/15/2006, Vol. 3, No. 2)

Thanks to Rabbi Sandra Katz for speaking to the issue of dress for chaplaincy. I am an ordained Lutheran clergyman, who served in congregations for 13 years prior to chaplaincy. In those years I wore a clerical collar regularly, and found that it readily identified me and my purpose when visiting my own parishioners in health care settings. However, now into chaplaincy for almost six years, I have found that wearing my collar while serving as chaplain, is a hindrance. I suspect that a lot of that has to do with being in the South, where the majority of Christians are, distinctly non-liturgical. Further, I have found that wearing business suits also a barrier for some who confuse me with someone from hospital administration. I have found that I receive the best receptions when I wear slacks, shirt and tie (I wear bow ties) and in the winter, usually a sweater. Of course, clothing has little if anything to do with how we relate to those patients who have need for pastoral care. It just seems to me that, considering location and setting, clothing can cause some to have to work a little harder when we first present ourselves in a patient’s space. I, for one, have chosen to minimize the effect of clothing or "uniform" as much as possible.

Bill Boldin
BCC Retreat Hospital
Richmond, VA

Hi, I am responding to Rabbi Katz's article in your most recent issue. I am a volunteer with the Spiritual Care service at Stanford University Medical Center and although not orthodox, I made a decision to always wear a Kippah (Yarmulke, skullcap) when I am at the hospital as well as dressing in a suit and tie. I find that putting on the "uniform" does a couple of things for me. First, it helps me to put myself into that important mindset to do the visitations in the right frame of mind, second it gives me instant identification to both hospital staff, patients and even people in the corridors. I think it is important to dress in a nice manner to let the patient know that they deserve respect, and when you dress properly your clothing is not a distraction. A funny incident, one day I was at the hospital and I was wearing a bright red Kippah, and as I was waiting for the elevator a little boy looked up at me quizically, finally saying "Good , afternoon Father". Needless to say I was flattered and when I recounted the story to the Catholic Chaplain, he asked me if I had blessed him. I enjoy your publication.

Jon S. Levinson
San Carlos, CA

Rabbi Sandra Katz's article on what to wear at work interested me because I have thought about the question ever since a woman in my first congregation told me I looked too much like a male pastor in my black clerical shirt. (Either she didn't notice the black and white skirt I was wearing with it, or she'd seen more of the world than I had!) A quarter century later, that same black clerical color would be appropriate in my current call, as Chaplain in a Lutheran retirement community. Certainly, the few Lutherans and Episcopalians who live there wouldn't blink an eye. But I find myself wearing my collar less now than I did during my twenty years of parish ministry. First of all, the facility is filled with Baptists, who gladly see me as their chaplain but whose own clergy wear no identifying clothes. Many of the residents and staff refer to me as "Pastor," not because I ask them to, or because I look like one, but because in this part of the Bible belt, religious leaders still hold a place of honor. Secondly, though I strongly identify with my denomination and its institutions, I make myself as available to those with no religious connection as to those with strong religious ties. One of my most important tasks, as Chaplain, is to meet the residents, families, and staff on their spiritual turf. For me, that means "civilian wear." Finally, I am comfortable doing my work in street clothes most of the time, donning a clerical shirt for particular religious services and funerals. Like all employees, I follow the mandatory dress code. I dress comfortably but appropriately for my work. Perhaps that is what matters most: reflecting with integrity who we are to those we serve. Yes, our dress matters. It tells others that we are loyal to our religious heritage, or committed to the dignity of our work. It can also convey how we feel about ourselves, whether or not we are drawing attention to ourselves, and how careful we are to represent our profession. "Appropriate" dress for a chaplain, as far as I can tell, may vary greatly. But most of all it means that the wearer has thought through the implications, as has Rabbi Katz. I thank her for bringing it to our attention.

Deborah D. Steed, M.Div.
RoseCrest Retirement Community
Inman, South Carolina

I appreciated Rabbi Katz's article very much. I am a Catholic female lay chaplain and find that I live in a strange world. Sometimes it feels like even my own denomination isn't really sure who I am or what to do with me! Virtually all of my peers carry a title--Imam, Sister, Father, Pastor, Reverend--while I do not. Often when people refer to me as "Pastor" or "Reverend" I simply smile and say "probably not in my lifetime..." and explain to them that I am a Catholic Chaplain.

When I began my training, all of the female chaplains (who all also happened to be Catholic) I worked with wore a white coat or jacket. Ostensibly this was for the pockets--but I believe that the real reason was they needed a way to claim their identity that the men did not. I too tried wearing a white coat. It lasted about one week: it was not a comfortable identity for me. Rather, as I have grown more comfortable in my own skin, I have found that my badge and my presence are enough.

I am growing to believe that the things that seem to help us claim our identity (collars, crosses, even white coats) also may separate us from the people we serve. It may be easier for me to "connect" precisely because I come with empty hands, rather than one in a position of implied clerical authority. I suppose, as is true in so many things in life, that the things we struggle with most--in this case my lack of external identity--also can become the greatest gift.

I would be interested in hearing from other women how they experience and claim their own identity in chaplaincy.

Blessings,
Bev Beltramo, Chaplain
Oakwood Southshore Medical Center
Trenton, Michigan

I appreciated the sensitivity and logic that Rabbi Katz used in explaining why she dresses as she does for her various roles as a female rabbi. The background comment from another female clergy and Rabbi Katz's thought process in her response were very affirming for me. I am a woman minister in the denomination of Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). We do not wear collars. We do oftentimes wear robes and stoles for worship services and other services. When I first started in chaplaincy, I never wore slacks except when I was off-duty and paged in for an emergency. Now I wear pants all of the time mainly for two reasons: one is that I do not have to buy and pay for pantyhose anymore, and the other is that they cover up the unsightly varicose veins in both of my legs. I had a Lutheran hospital administrator and a Lutheran surgeon suggest to me on a couple of occasions a few years ago that I wear a collar to give me more authority and identity. A few years before that my CPE supervisor had felt me out about why I did not wear a collar. For me the answer is simple, I like Rabbi Katz feel like I have enough authority by my presence. I also feel that sometimes wearing a collar can get in the way of my ministering to people. They may put me on another level that is less approachable for them to communicate with me or they may only talk God-talk with me because seeing my collar that is what they think I want to hear from them. I do most of the time wear a cross necklace and a prayer wheel as I make rounds. In our hospital where the majority of the patients I serve tend to come from Christian backgrounds, I think this helps them to identify with me. I have not found that it has been repulsive to any of our patients who are of other religious persuasions and sometimes it helps some of our folks who speak little English to identify my role in the hospital setting. I think our responsibility as chaplains is to be open and friendly and establish a presence that brings comfort to the patients and their loved ones. I also feel that my appearance needs to be one that helps people to feel like they can talk to me and that I will understand where they are coming from in our conversation. Thus, I keep in mind to try and dress in a manner that will let them feel I am on the same level as they are.

Jennie Malewski
Staff Chaplain
KU Hospital
Kansas City

Rabbi Sandra Katz wrote about "Do Clothes Make a Chaplain". I have a couple of responses I would like to make.

First, I remember vividly in seminary in 1967 our pastoral care professor saying, "We have only one chance to make a first impression." Of course, I have heard that many times since then! When we walk into a person's room all they have to go on until we open our mouths is what they see. Because of that awareness I was very intentional about choosing clothes that would "make a good first impression" given that I was working in an academic medical center. If my appearance makes a negative first impression, it means that I have to work just to get the relationship back to neutral, say nothing about making it positive.

Second, NLP has determined that 7% of our communication is the words we say, 38% of our communication is the way we say the words, and 55% of our communication is non-verbal, which I believe definitely includes what we wear. I always ask myself, what is my 55% communicating!
Thanks to Rabbi Sandra Katz for raising a very important communication issue!

Rev. Rod Seeger, BCC, ACPE Supervisor

While reading Rabbi Katz’s article, I was reminded of my own person struggle. As a child I was self-conscious of my appearance. I had received the message that beauty was sinful –to care for one’s appearance was Biblical wrong. During my first CPE residency, I was continually told by patients, families, and staff, “You don’t look like a chaplain!”It took me years to respond, “How should a chaplain look?”As I processed these experiences, a CPE supervisor suggested that I wear a collar to solve my problem. But in my tradition (Baptist), male ministers do not even wear collars. So why should I, as a woman, alter the way I look in order to “be”a minister?

Over a long journey of struggling with my own identity while trying to “fit”into the expectations of the ministerial look, I came to a place where I was confident in myself as an ordained Baptist woman created and called by God. I embraced my own sexuality and called myself minister –including the long hair, the petite build that I inherited from my grandmother, and my own femininity. I choose my clothes carefully, out of my choice to present a welcoming presence. I add the use of a stole when leading worship and memorials, when offering a blessing or baptism, and during prayer at a patient’s bedside. By wearing a stole, a “priestly”dimension is added to the sacrament that I am offering. It becomes a symbol that we are together entering into a time that is sacred and holy.

It is important for us to be conscious of our appearance as ministers. However, I am not willing to compromise who God has created me as an individual in order to fit into what society has said that I am “supposed”to look like in order to be a minister.

Rev. Renée Owen, M.Div.
Senior Chaplain, Pastoral Care Services
Patient and Family Services Department
Miami Children's Hospital

Re: Love is All We Need, Mark LaRocca-Pitts (PlainViews, 2/1/2006, Vol. 3, No. 1)

Mark LaRocca-Pitts is close to the mark with his comments about pastoral care as an expression of love. However, what he presents is a little thin at times as when he comments: “Our love is therapeutic in that it engages patients where they are and journeys with them toward hope and healing as needs, contexts, and capacities change.”Mark poses only a love that journeys towards hope ending in healing and yet many of the patients we are called to journey with are in despair. Despair is a valid religious experience and a valid response to certain of life’s circumstances and is the other side of the coin of faith. A love that is only journeying towards hope and healing is more like sentimentality than the agape. Chaplaincy that has no place for a theology of despair is a rather thin soup. There has been much written over the years about pastoral care and love which is substantial and significant and which challenges us all in terms of the practice of our various ministries some examples of which follow:

Summing up the teaching of the Law and the prophets Jesus commented,"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind—love your neighbor as yourself."

Richard Niebuhr comments in, The Purpose of the Church and Its Ministry, "When all is said and done the increase of-----love of God and neighbor remains the purpose and the hope of our preaching of the gospel, of all our church organizations and activity, of all our ministry."

Pastoral care is "A Kind of Loving" comments Alastair Campbell in his book Professionalism and Pastoral Care. The question which Campbell seeks to engage is; How can pastoral care be both professional, what one does for a living as one demonstrates competence and consistency,
and a kind of loving as indicated by Niebuhr's comments reflecting upon the role of the church and ministry?

And there's the rub - its how we professional chaplains make our living - there is a cost to the love that we provide. Myron Madden indicates "Our own healing, if we are honest with ourselves, is caught up in helping others" The love we offer, if un-reflected upon,is not love at all but an expression of our own to need to be needed.

Tillich reminds us that "It is a rare gift to meet a human being in whom love—and this means God—is so overwhelmingly manifest. It undercuts theological arrogance as well as pious isolation. It is more than justice and it is greater than faith and hope. It is the presence of God Himself. For God is love. And in every moment of genuine love we are dwelling in God and God in us."

Blessings
George Hankins Hull
Director Pastoral Care &
Clinical Pastoral Education
UAMS Medical Center
Little Rock, AR

Mark's response to George:

George Hankins Hull has pointed out some excellent shortcomings in my article. Any love that cannot journey with a patient wherever they are and wherever they are going or not going would indeed fall short of the agape love that forms the heart of our pastoral care tradition. A love that only embraces a path of hope at the expense of those in despair would be, as Mr. Hull puts it, “a rather thin soup.”Despair is indeed a valid response to many of life’s situations and we need a good theology of despair. However, since I have encountered few people who want to remain “in the valley of the shadow of death,”and since my pastoral tradition sees hope as important for one’s spiritual health, then as I journey with them as a chaplain, I might gently point out those places where hope resides in the passing landscape. Also, as a clinical chaplain, I might consider a referral for a psychological evaluation just to insure that the patient’s despair is not pathological. Thank you Chaplain Hull for thickening the stew in what is of necessity often watered down due to length requirements.

As for the bibliographical notes: thank you. Love is not only biblical, but, as you point out, it forms an important core of our theological tradition. I would even venture to say that it forms the core of a wide variety of spiritual traditions from time immemorial and is the basis for all spiritual care. Nonetheless, it is easy for us to forget the core of our spiritual traditions when we get so caught up in the peripherals and this article was intended more as a reminder than an attempt to be original. Also, it is especially rewarding to get paid for what we are called to do, though I would argue that the loving professions such as ours seem to pay less than other professions.

I want to thank Chaplain Hull for taking the time to write such a thoughtful and thought provoking response. It is in the dialogue that we learn and not in our published positions.

Respectfully,
Mark LaRocca-Pitts, PhD, BCC

Re: Reflections on a Move North, Valerie Storms (PlainViews, 2/1/2006, Vol. 3, No. 1)

It was neat to read Valerie Storms' essay about her transition from Florida to Long Island, NY. Years ago, she preached at my church two or three times that I remember (1st Pres., Gainesville). I am sad for Florida that she has left us, but delighted to see that she is progressing in professional attainment as well as in service. The comments and questions she has encountered made me recall my move from California to NW Ohio years ago, in time for the worst blizzard in 50 years, especially "You left there to come here?"

Thanks.
Tim Ray, M.S.W., JD,
Hospice of Marion County

Re: ...two pastors from the hospital, Rob Ruff (PlainViews, 1/4/2006, Vol. 2, No. 23)

My thanks to Pastor Ruff for sharing his and Helen's experience of sharing a burden. It brought to memory all the late night visits to unknown family homes made with the County Coroner. More importantly, as the physician did for the two of you, I was able to reflect upon the duality of purpose and call of a hospital chaplain. Whatever the title our own religious community confers upon us, we practice the art of balancing our own faith traditions while offering encouragement to others to live out of their own values and spirituality.

Rev. David Monsen, Director
Pastoral Care Services
Grays Harbor Community Hospital
Aberdeen, WA

Re: The Widow's Might, William Zeckhausen (PlainViews, 1/18/2006, Vol. 2, No. 24)

This journal item in PlainViews made me think of myself where I have also done a few funeral services with only the director and 'burial crew' there to pay final respects. I did feel like you would state at the end of the article 'the amount of envelope money was...." Thanks for your comments and insights.

Dan Russell, D.Min., LPC
Fulton State Hospital
Pastoral Services
Fulton, MO

I was very touched by the recounting of the funeral service for the lady who took her own life. Each of us, I believe, has stories like this that on the surface seem unimportant, but they have a huge impact on our life. Whatever the reason she took her life, your fulfilling her request has had an immeasurable impact on your life and many of those whom you touch. Thank you for sharing.

Blessings,
George H. Richardson, M.Div.
Director of Pastoral Care and Counseling
The University of Texas Health Center at Tyler

Just read this story in PlainViews and had to respond! Thanks for the memories. As part of my Boston University School of Theology Th.M. almost forty years ago I had occasions to visit various churches, among them Old South Church. And before focusing my ministry in psychotherapy and mental health chaplaincy I certainly had funerals like that one. We surely do not always understand the power, do we? I'm not an overt evangelist but am convinced that God works through us anyway!

Keep up the Good Work!
Paul R. Darnell, D.Min.
Fellow, AAPC
OPCC, Inc.,
Syracuse, NY

I am a lay person interested in the Chaplaincy and read the article on the funeral of a suicide. I can identify with suicide plus my mother's family has roots deep into Massachusetts history. My grandmother living in Buffalo seems to have been a Presbyterian and composed a book of bereavement on the very premature death of a child. In her nineties after many years in Florida she passed away. Undoubtedly very few in Florida would be interested in her last rites. Some of our family though not my immediate family must have been at the Florida funeral. An announcement of this funeral was printed and sent round, a beautiful commemoration of last rites at a Congregational Church in Florida [certainly somewhat unusual] I find this statement of her end of life to be meaningful, connecting me with a remote event in a virtual world. I have more thoughts but is difficult to articulate and be relevant. I value your contribution to the Chaplaincy.

Paul Allersmeyer
Bloomsfield, NJ

Thanks for sharing the article of your experience with the elderly widow. In my ministry at a Psychiatric Hospital in Montreal I had many occasions when it was I and the funeral director at the grave side for prayers. I always felt very sad and lonely but I was often impressed with the dignity that the funeral director gave to this person that they never knew - one funeral home was particularly attentive and I would send them all the business I could because they would bury people I sent them with no money.

Douglas Wilson
St Paul University
Ottawa, Ontario, CA

Thank you for the article in Plainviews - for me it serves as a reminder of the desperate loneliness in which some (perhaps many?) people live. Remaining aware raises my listening skills so that I can "hear" when someone I am with is one of those people.

Gratefully,
Chaplain Marty Koontz
St. Mary's Health System
Knoxville, TN

I just read the article in the PlainViews newsletter, and was very moved by it. Beautiful reflection on how a bad situation became better, and how it could have been even better. Thanks so much for writing and sharing.

Sincerely,
Ruth Stevenson
Edmonton, Alberta, CA

I appreciated this article very much and could identify with the inner struggle you articulated. Thanks for sharing your story.

Blessings,
The Rev. Dr. Glenn A. Robitaille
Duty Chaplain
Mental Health Centre Penetanguishene
Penetanguishene, ON

I'm a full-time chaplain going on sabbatical from 12 to 15 months beginning in May,2006. I'm looking for a replacement chaplain for the time I'm away. Please contact me if you are interested.

Thanks,
Ann Brangan, BCC
Beaumont/Port Arthur, Texas
ann.brangan@christushealth.org
409.899.7368

I just want to reiterate my thanks for this great newsletter/online journal. The articles have continued to be thoughtful, helpful, educational, and inspirational. Thanks to all for the work and effort you put into it!

Rev. Caroline Patterson
Women and Infants Hospital/The Chaplaincy Center
Providence, Rhode Island

Dear Staff of PlainViews:

I just want to say "thank you" to all of the staff at PlainViews. I am no longer able to be the volunteer chaplain at Memorial Hospital in Pawtucket, RI, because of the long distance by car since moving two years ago. This was very difficult for me to "cut the cord." One of the nurse managers said to me: "Louise, I just know that there are people in Little Compton just waiting for you to be their chaplain." Well, dear fellow chaplains, yes that was a prophetic statement: I connected with Hospice & Palliative Care of Fall River, MA. For the last two years I have served both as a Volunteer and also on a Pastoral Care Team. I am very happy.

I am very grateful for your ministry as I do so like to keep "sharp" in my skills i.e. "Appropriate Chaplain Boundaries." I was most fortunate to do my four units of CPE in Providence under the direction of Bill Nisi and Sister Dorothy Cotterell, 1993-94. Perhaps some of you recognize the names. Bill went to be with our Saviour about 10-years ago after relocating in Chicago. Very sad. The Providence site asked Duane Parker, the originator of the site and also the director for CPE, to return, and he did for a short time and then retired. Perhaps this is newsworthy to some of you.

Again, thanks for being there...

Blessings,
Louise M. Hutchinson (Mrs.)
Chaplain
Fall River, MA