TalkBack Response to John Less (PlainViews,
6/16/2004, Vol. 1, No. 10)
I can understand that your present circumstances seem bleak and that your response
to them is also bleak. But I challenge you to answer these questions about misfortune:
1) Why not you?
2) Are you privy to G-D’s plan?
3) Is there a plan?
4) ) In your opinion, does G-D only exist if G-D manipulates your life in a way
that you find agreeable?
5) If you already see the future as hopeless, where is your faith that you have
power to be the captain of your ship in the choices you make?
6) Then again, is G-D the sole manipulator of your life or do you have any choice
in the decisions you make?
7) If during a flood you choose to ignore a log floating by, preferring to wait
for the hand of G-D to lift you out from the waters…and you drown – did you drown
because you made a poor choice, because there was a flood or because you are
waiting for G-D to personally come down and give you a helping hand?
8) To quote you, “People are used and once their use is exhausted, thrown away
like Kleenex”…Thrown away by “whom” - People or G-D? Who is responsible: Those
in management who have the power to hire and fire, using their free choice? Is
this attitude of being dispensible not part and parcel of a free enterprise,
a money driven economy? What would make one think that they are not as susceptible
to the “cuts” as anyone else?
9) Might one grow stale, lacking former luster, grow older, slower, less creative,
less flexible?
10) It is of course much easier for us to need and want concrete reasons beyond
the obvious as to why “things” happen. Things happen every day. Some of the things
that happen we can control and others we cannot. But, I think our need to hold
G-D responsible for every missed opportunity, for every disappointment, for all
our unhappiness – detracts from the gift G-D did give us – that of free choice,
of taking responsibilities for our own actions, having the ability to make decisions
and to deal with the realities of life. If G-D is merely pulling our strings
and we are merely puppets – why should we bother holding G-D to task for being
a puppeteer?
Laurie Dinerstein-Kurs
Chaplain, Jewish Federation
Responses to Chaplain Geralyn Abbott,
Spiritual Dimension of Psychiatric Treatment
(PlainViews, 6/16/2004, Vol. 1, No. 10)
I am the lead chaplain at the University of Texas-Harris County Psychiatric
Center in Houston. We are a short term psychiatric teaching hospital with about
70% of our patients being indigent. The role of chaplain here is totally intergrated
into the treatment of the patients. We offer spirituality groups for all levels
of our population including adult, adolescent, children and Spanish-speaking
patients. We offer a more generic group for the lower functioning patients
whereas for the higher functioning patients we offer groups based on principles
of pastoral counseling. What we offer as chaplains is recognized as a health
care discipline intergral to the treatment of our clients. We are not consultants
but a member of the treatment team with a specific role and function. This
is happening at other facilities across the nation and is becoming the norm.
Chaplain Alvin Hodges
Houston, TX
I am writing in response to Chaplain Geralyn
Abbott on the Spiritual Dimension of Psychiatric
Treatment. I am a chaplain and an ACPE Supervisor
in Training (SIT) resident at Banner Thunderbird
Medical Center, a 385-bed hospital in the Phoenix
area.
Thank you for writing of the importance of the spiritual dimension in healthcare
and recovery. I put this definition on my office door. It’s a good reminder
to all who enter that I’m not someone who just deals with religion or the common
elements of religion. As chaplains we deal with all of that and the deeper,
soul issues of ultimate meaning and hope. Science and medicine are very much
like religion and spirituality; they don’t cure; they supplement or sometimes
fool the body’s natural processes. If that’s not possible, they attempt to
remove the disease or destroy it. I’ve read articles in medical/psychological
journals where religion and placebos are mentioned in the same line. Both are
effective in providing hope. And hope is an effective treatment for illness
of both body and soul. It takes surgery to remove physical disease, but it
takes ritual or therapy to remove spiritual/emotional disease.
For the past two years I have lead a team
of hospital professionals called Spiritual
Care At Life’s End (SCALE). We intervene when
circumstances threaten to deny a terminal patient
“A Good Death.” Part of my work as a chaplain
is promotion and education. Without getting
into details, we have tried to educate physicians
and staff on what indicates a spiritual need.
The obvious method has been to provide questions
to ask.
Here’s my experience with questions: “Would you like to speak with our chaplain?”
or “Would it be helpful to you to talk with your clergy person?” elicit a “no”
much of the time. First, an acute-care facility like a hospital is a symbol
of hope, compassion and care but also carries the issues of mortality, pain,
and death. For the unchurched, suggesting that a chaplain come only confirms
or invites the specter of bad luck into the room. How many people refuse to
talk about something for fear that simply mentioning the subject will cause
it to happen? I once visited a patient in the middle of the night who had coded
on the medical floor and was taken to critical care after being revived. When
I asked him for permission to come in his room, he said, “Oh my God! Do you
know something I don’t?!” We were both relieved to know I was there just because
I cared about him. The mythologies and superstitions of the media invade our
lives more efficiently than does the church. A simple question like: “Do you
want to see our chaplain?” often invokes the former first.
Second, and perhaps more importantly, once
a “no” is received as an answer to a proposed
chaplain visit, a physician or nurse who witnesses
spiritual pain, anticipatory grief or existential
angst in that same patient will continue to
operate with the last directive, “no chaplain,”
until withdrawn by the patient. And if the
“no” is documented, our chaplains will respect
the patient’s right to privacy. All of this
from an innocent question that denies the patient
necessary care and rates a “poor” on our service
excellence scale.
I remember a critical care nurse who told
me of a patient’s husband who was suffering
over his wife’s impending death. The nurse
asked: “Do you want to see our chaplain? He’s
very good!” (Honestly, she said that!) The
man refused because he had turned from religion
long ago, he was angry and his wife was not
religious either. The nurse honored his refusal
for some time. When she saw me on this particular
visit, this nurse was in a great deal of sympathetic
pain over this man’s grief. She didn’t seek
help for him but for herself. I ministered
to her guilt and pain. Then I visited the man
who didn’t want to see the chaplain.
He told me what he told the nurse. I said,
“I’m not here because you need religion. I’m
here because you’re hurting. When you hurt,
I hurt. Perhaps we can help each other through
this?” The man talked over an hour of his pain
— the pain of impending loss; and, the pain
of some older, deeper losses. The most significant
of those was the loss of faith in religion.
I visited this man daily until his wife died.
He asked a lot of questions: “Why?” seemed
to start many of them. We don’t have the answer
to why we die. We do know loss is painful and
we’re willing to enter into someone’s pain
with them. But we can’t do that if in the chart
it says: “Does not want to see chaplain.”
You said, “Most, if not all, patients have
a set of beliefs that inform their attitudes
and behaviors.” And, that “belief system …
may be influencing their illness or recovery.”
I take a stronger position because it informs
my initiative in providing spiritual/emotional
care. For me, knowing that some system exists
for the patient means that I can’t ask a simple
faith question and walk away when faith is
denied. But for those without training, the
simple questions seem to fit – on the surface.
You said, “Faith … can foster hope, acceptance,
serenity and peace. However, the lack of a
healthy spirituality, belief system or worldview
can lead to hopelessness, despair, suicide,
fear, and abuse.” What if religion, or a religious
figure, or what religion represents to a patient,
are part of their basis for hopelessness, lack
of self-worth, lack of self-esteem, etc.? Asking
a simple question: “Do you have a faith tradition?”
can bring up issues of judgment, criticism,
and deep angst. If a patient was once part
of a tradition that equates sin with non-practice,
the question “Are you active in the practice
of your faith (Do you attend church/temple/ashram)?”
will put them off immediately.
Then there’s the issue of the physician, staff
or patient who are atheists. Our facility in
Colorado tried questions similar to yours to
gather data on the spiritual and emotional
needs of their patients. The questions passed
the review of the Department of Spiritual Care,
various other committees and administration.
Within weeks of starting the survey, staff
who felt uncomfortable and staff who ran into
vocal patients who were uncomfortable with
these questions caused enough commotion to
result in a suspension of the survey. Certain
patients, staff, and physicians who were not
practicing any religious tradition felt criticized
or put upon by such questions. True, they were
in a very small minority, but they must be
valued as well as the majority.
In the current atmosphere of political correctness,
we can either be frustrated at the hurdles
we must jump to help others or we can look
at why we are asking the question and formulate
a better one. The rule of thumb for physicians
is “First, do no harm.” If we are looking to
relieve pain, we cannot accept even minor instances
of causing pain.
I try to teach our staff to observe and, if they are willing, state the obvious
and ask about it. For example, “You look anxious. What’s that about?” If staff
members are not willing to ask, they are to call the chaplain. So many things
are important in identifying our emotional state of mind. Reading and using
the body can go a long way toward dealing with illness. There is more, but
I’m over my time limit now.
The professional chaplain is a key part to
any healthcare team. I applaud your efforts
at making clinicians aware of the spiritual
aspect of physical healing. Much success to
you and your efforts.
Sincerely,
Rev. James D. Ek
Chaplain and SIT Resident
Banner Thunderbird Medical Center
Responses to Dr. Diane Bridges Creating
Multifaith Resources article (PlainViews,
6/16/2004, Vol. 1, No. 10)
Thank you so much to all those who requested Trillium's multi faith manual.It
was an overwhelming response and we thoroughly enjoyed the correspondence and
the learning. I am hoping to engage further with you in terms of ideas or suggestions
for improvement. Has the manual proved to be helpful? Have you suggestions
that we could share re more cultural content? I would be happy to add extra
information if it is substantial as I am in the process of going to print again.
It is probably too early to evaluate the usefullness but i hope to keep in
touch via e-mail. I am most heartened
by requests from the east to the west coast as well as Australia. Thanks also
to Martha Jacobs and Nicole La Rosa for all their help. God bless.
Diane Bridges
Trillium Health Centre
Mississauga
Ontario, Canada
Responses to Chaplain David Plummer’s
Evangelical Chaplain article (PlainViews,
5/19/2004, Vol. 1, No. 8)
A comment on Dave Plummer's recent article It seems to me that evangelical
ministers and Chaplains dificulty with the ministry in the hosptial, do not
grasp a simple contextual issue. Hospitals are not churches. Chaplains do ministry
in the hosptial as part of the treatment team; not to get new members to their
church . We have many Chaplains that still try to bring a community church
identity context function to the modern hospital chaplaincy. As long as we
professional chaplains and professional chaplaincy orgasnizations refuse to
recognize and speak out for clinically trained chaplaincy being a different
contextual function we will continue to be plagued with role and identity confusion.
Larry Austin
Greenville, NC
I can’t thank you enough for allowing me to
have had a voice in this forum. I thoroughly
appreciated being able to say “publicly” that
which has been troublesome to me for so long.
While I have enjoyed receiving PlainViews,
I always read it to just keep abreast of what
is out there. I, being Jewish, never felt that
I would ever have reason to join in on your
site.
However, this topic was written for me and
I thank you for printing Dr. Plummer’s article
and accepting my response. Having said my piece,
a great weight has been lifted from me. Thank
you.
Most sincerely,
B’shalom,
Laurie Dinerstein-Kurs
Chaplain, Jewish Federation
I have not read Chaplain David Plummer's Evangelical
Chaplains article although seeing some of the
responses in the 6/16/2004 issue of PlainViews,
I am inspired to. I take note of Chaplain Laurie
Dinerstein's concerns about "intolerance" with
evangelical students. I can well imagine what
some of these expressions of 'intolerance'
might be, and how they could be experienced
as judgemental, presumtive or worse. However,
I also have a concern about "the other
side of the fence." My own experience
in Clinical Pastoral Education, (14 plus units
and working in a hospital with a large CPE
training program,) is that, coming out of the
more liberal religious tradition as it has,
there is in CPE also a signficant danger of "intolerance" towards
evangelicals, not to mention those considered
'fundementalists" in different faith traditions.
If there is to be any kind of dialogue at all,
people have to be accepted where they are,
or else we must simply give up any hope of
exchange or dialogue or mutual appreciation.
I can think of no better place to even begin
enabling such "dialogueing" than
in a CPE program. The very focus on process,
relationships, and healthy and respectful ground
rules for communication makes it a potentially
optimal environment for people of different
traditions and even strongly held beliefs to
begin to listen to eachother. It does concern
me that if people are put in the evangelical
or fundementalist "camp" they are "ruled
out" as people we can relate to. Can't
this be a reverse kind of intolerance? Do people
have to agree or approve of us, our beliefs
or our behavior for us to be open to dialoguing
with them? I am in the process of thinking
through these things myself so I am raising
the questions.
Chaplain Donald E. Moore
Responses to Rabbi Shira Stern and
Dr. Tamar Earnest, Why G-d? (PlainViews,
4/7/2004, Vol. 1, No. 5)
I am having a lot of trouble with your editorial policy of referring to God
as "G-d." Every time I see it, I hear a blasphemous expletive that,
of course, I can't write in this posting and hardly want to say. Inclusiveness
aside, it does not honor the Creator to have me think of this every time I
read it. Maybe I ought to just get over it, but maybe others make this unfortunate
association also. I'm asking you to restore God to our discussions.
Steve Norcross
Director of Pastoral Services
William Temple House
Portland, Oregon
Chaplain Wannabee Seeks Healing
After walking away from 16 successful years in the public sector, after the investment
of time, effort and resources in an
M. Div. and five units of Clinical Pastoral Education, I find myself unable after
5 months of searching to even get a single interview for a chaplain position.
With only 2 months of unemployment remaining I am facing a hopeless future of
multiple minimum wage paying jobs at fast food and mass merchandisers. In classic
CPE tradition I have to reflect and ask: What the heck happened? The best that
I’ve been able to come up with are the following answers:
G-d does not exist. Waiting
patiently for G-d to act is on par with Linus waiting for the Great Pumpkin
to appear.
The notion of G-d “calling”
a person to ministry is misguided, i.e. the Deists are right after all.
G-d does indeed act and call
people to ministry, however, the will of G-d may be thwarted by human conditions
and actions. G-d wants, but G-d can’t necessarily get (or if you prefer, G-d
chooses to not get.)
G-d does indeed act and call
people to ministry, and provides the means for this ministry to be exercised.
This may mean that service to G-d is limited to a particular place and time
(think Jonah here). People are used and once their use is exhausted, thrown
away like Kleenex.
G-d does indeed act and call
people to ministry, and provides the means for this ministry to be exercised.
People may make the mistake of believing that they are being called. Maybe
I was never meant to be a chaplain. Maybe I failed to discern along with all
of my seminary professors, peers, colleagues, and supervisors.
G-d does indeed act and call
people to ministry, and provides the means for this ministry to be exercised.
G-d may though, have some people endure a dark night of the soul as some kind
of cruel test. This to me is terrifying for what hope is there for anyone if
G-d routinely acts in the manner of a schoolyard bully?
I hope that these words will make some readers think about what they believe.
I also hope that through reader response/feedback, I will be able to formulate
some understanding and acceptance of what I’ve gone through, i.e. that I will
benefit from the healing ministry that chaplains offer to the wounded.
John Less
Responses to Chaplain Dick Millspaugh (PlainViews, 6/2/2004,
Vol. 1, No. 9)
That was an interesting article that Chaplain Dick Millspaugh wrote on his
experience of the initial verbal communication with his patients. One thing
I notice about chaplains is our own individual style that works for us when
dealing with patients.
The style that I use is a little different. I minister in Jamaica Hospital,
Queens, New York in the intensive care unit. Sometimes the patient is aware
of what is going on, but most of the time I am talking to the family members.
When I walk into the room I use to say, "Hello, my name is Deborah Heard,
the chaplain for the hospital." In many cases, the next response was, "What
is a chaplain." Then I found myself explaining what a chaplain was. I
decided to change that approach. I now use "Hello, my name is Deborah
Heard, chaplain for the hospital, and I came by to see how you were feeling." Using
this approach (1) connects the term "chaplain" with concern for the
person; and (2) I immediately see the change in facial expression, one of relief,
after the introduction. It immediately opens up the communication between the
patient and/or family and me. So there are many interesting, inventive ways
to have that initial verbal contact.
Chaplain Deborah Heard
Jamaica Hospital,
Queens, NY
In response to Chaplain Dick Millspaugh's "Communication--A First Impression," it
is often the simple things that can make the greatest difference. Since reading
Chaplain Millspaugh's suggestion to identify yourself when entering a patient's
room with the second person possessive form, as in "Hello, I'm your chaplain
...," I have noticed a few significant changes in my pastoral encounters.
Not only does it provide a fuller and deeper sense of my own pastoral identity,
but it also invites the patient or family member into both a more personal
and professional relationship right from the start. Also, by noting the reaction
of the patient, both verbally and non-verbally, a door is opened for beginning
the spiritual assessment. Thanks Chaplain Millspaugh for this very simple,
helpful and direct way to begin a pastoral exchange.
Mark LaRocca-Pitts, MDiv, PhD
Staff Chaplain Athens Regional Medical Center
Georgia
Responses to Chaplain Lerrill White’s Defining Advocacy (PlainViews,
6/2/2004, Vol. 1, No. 9)
Dear PlainViews- Another great advocacy article. Thanks. Below is a letter
to the editor of a local newspaper from one of our APC Advocacy Chairs. Not
only does advocacy address public issues, but it also speaks to clarity of
chaplaincy and for a healthy understanding of chaplaincy.
Dick Cathell
Chair for the Commission on Advocacy, APC.
Dick,
I thought you might like to see the "letter to the editor" I submitted
to the Charleston (SC) Post and Courier last week in response to an AP story
about a hospice chaplain in Colorado. The story gave the impression that all
chaplains do is give care to the dying, perpetuating the myth that the only
time you need a chaplain is when someone is at death's door. My letter was
published on May 26.
Best regards,
Chaplain Bruce Jayne, BCC
State Advocacy Chair, SC
Editor
The Post and Courier
The article “Chaplains Prepare Dying for Final Journey” in Sunday’s paper
perpetuates a misperception about the kind of care chaplains provide. Many
people think that the only time a chaplain is needed is when a patient is near
death. Although the focus of a hospice chaplain’s ministry may be related to
the dying process, the chaplain is also working with the patient and family
to help them find meaning for their lives in their relationships with each
other and with their G-d. And in the case of chaplains in hospitals, nursing
homes and other institutions their professional and theological training has
equipped them to guide people through a search for meaning in the crisis points
of their lives, brought on by illness, relationship difficulties, grief, guilt
and a host of other factors, which may or may not include end of life issues.
They do this by empathetic listening, encouraging people to tell their stories,
to reflect on and learn from their own experiences, and by helping them to
access their own spiritual resources for support. In short, professional chaplaincy
offers a wide-ranging array of spiritual care tailored to the needs of people
who are struggling with a variety of issues. The role of the chaplain includes,
but is definitely not limited to, giving comfort to the dying.
Rev. Bruce Jayne, BCC
Director of Pastoral Care
Roper St. Francis HealthCare
State Advocacy Chair
Association of Professional Chaplains
Responses to Chaplain David Plummer’s Evangelical Chaplain article
(PlainViews, 5/19/2004, Vol. 1, No. 8)
I hesitated to respond to this site last time, but the topic presented was
too close to me to allow me to ignore it. I also thought that once I hit the
“send” key, the whole issue would be behind me. OOPS! Not so. Not after I have
had the opportunity to read some of the replies to Dr. Plummer’s words.
There is no room here to explore every issue, so let me be succinct and merely
respond to one letter, written by Mr. Emanuel Williams. I also went through
CPE…and CPE for me was a hell on earth. I had to endure such intolerance that
I often wondered to myself, if these seminary students are the chaplains of
tomorrow – G-D help us all. If the supervisor’s can be so insensitive to what
is going on, how can I hold the student’s accountable?
Recently, an article in the Journal of Pastoral Care and Counseling spoke
to just one of the many issues that are touched by evangelicalism. LANGUAGE.
I could have been sitting in a class of Russian students and understood as
much (I don’t speak Russian).
So ingrained in “their” life are their ideals, philosophies, enthusiasm and
language, that it didn’t leave much room for those of us (me) who were not
familiar with their expressions, ideas or beliefs.
The tendency to be less than tolerant and open was, in my CPE experience,
tolerated from day one. So while I totally and wholeheartedly agree with Dr,
Plummer that working chaplains should not be missionaries on a mission when
they are acting as chaplains, I am also a bit dismayed by the words of Mr.
Emanuel Williams, (amongst others) who, because of his personal ethics and
views almost discounted that there are MANY out there who are not being ethical
and tolerant. And “new” ones are being turned out every day.
My reason for mentioning this is that the problem has to be fixed at its source
– CPE.
Either we train through special sensitivity courses to CPE students to overcome
their OWN needs to evangelize and to better meet the needs of the patient,
or we will just be cranking out many more (hopefully not many - but, how many
more would be acceptable?)
Laurie Dinerstein-Kurs
Chaplain, Jewish Federation
In regard to June 2, 2004 Issue of Plain Views on questions of Evangelization:
I can feel the perplexity and pain Rev. Steven Heintz and also the pain and
anger of Chaplain Laurie Dinerstein-Kurs regarding their experiences. I think
the problem is not really spiritual or even religious, but rather intellectual.
There was a quote from
Ladislaus Boros, SJ that I once read and it went something like this, "It
is rather strange and presumptive and elitist that we can feel assured of our
salvation and not assured of our neighbor's salvation!" I also want to
add that the question goes both ways;
that is, I once had a patient jump out of bed and then pray over me that the
Holy Spirit might come upon me!
John P. Stangle
Certified Chaplain Emeritus, NACC
TalkBack response to John Stangle
In response to John Stangle's question about the prophetic role (my term) of
chaplains in institutional work, the short answer is that chaplains do not
often "bite the hand that feeds them." I first became aware of
this as a new chaplain when I read a study Edward Thornton did in the 60's
out of Crozier/Colgate/Rochester Seminary with institutional chaplains, raising
this very issue. The chaplains Thornton worked with were very reluctant to
engage in ethical/moral issues which might threaten their jobs. Similar to
pastors in the 60's who were threatened over their openness to integration.
In my own situation, I have been a part of three chaplaincy staffs at two
state hospitals and a VA medial center. When issues come up, it is a difficult
choice to make. We saw ourselves as pastors, not prophets, but some situations
called for a prophetic intervention, such as Nathan & David. Chaplains
have endangered their positions by taking stands on issues as advocates for
ethical behavior. Wish it were not so. I had one superintendent who told
me he wanted me to be the conscience of the institution and to be free to
challenge any behavior I deemed unethical or immoral. This was in the early
70's, and I moved to another state, another position, and have never been
asked to function in that way again.
Vance Davis
I have some questions that I'd like to hear responses
to and to learn how others have approached
these questions. How do Chaplains deal with
the conflict (if any) between having, keeping,
and doing a job in an institutional setting
and "prophetic voice" type issues?
Do most Chaplains feel free to voice their
opinions and make suggestions about both
local and international issues that seem
important?
Do Chaplains even have time and energy to
deal with other than the most immediate concerns?
Chaplain John Stangle
Certified Chaplain Emeritus, NACC
.gif){kind=spacer}
.gif){kind=spacer}
