Skip to main content

A Hospital Chaplain at the Crossroads of Humanity by William Alberts Ph.D.


 
Book Description

Publication Date: March 18, 2012

Book Description A Hospital Chaplain at the Crossroads of Humanity tells the stories of patients who represent the diversity of divinity and the divinity of diversity-- and the commonality of humanity. Patients who reveal a hospital is actually a global neighborhood that calls for a chaplain to embrace diversity of belief—“without exception.” Chaplains without theological blinders. Thus pastoral/spiritual care begins with the humanness that prepares a chaplain to enter into and honor this global neighborhood. The inward journey where one becomes self-aware, and is in touch with and accepting of oneself. Such self-awareness prepares one to understand and accept patients and their loved ones as themselves, and to experience their reality not interpret it. Chaplains have to know where we-- and our god-- are coming from in order to know where patients and their families—and their god—are at. Pastoral/spiritual care, therefore, is not about the chaplain but about the patient. It is about the chaplain in terms of his or her awareness that it is about the patient. Self-awareness is key-- whether one is a chaplain or another kind of caregiver or a concerned citizen. Chaplaincy is about empowering patients and their families not imposing any belief or value system on them. It is about empathy not evangelism. This emphasis on the patient is not to minimize the identity and faith of the chaplain. Rather, it is to stress the pastoral/spiritual care qualities of self-awareness and inner emotional security that enable the chaplain to allow patients and their loved ones to be who they are. The patients’ stories reveal their commonality as well as their diversity. Illness confronts all people with their mortality and hence their vulnerability, their humanness—their oneness and connectedness with each other. In a hospital there is the pronounced human sharing of struggles with life and death, hope and fear, pain and anguish, love and anger, joy and sorrow. And it is these very struggles that bring out the tremendous wisdom patients and their families possess. The role of pastoral/spiritual care is to affirm these common human struggles and the wisdom they elicit by giving them air and reverence. A hospital is a global neighborhood that brings into sharp focus the humanness everyone shares: a precious insight, the embracing of which facilitates competent patient care by all staff, and, likewise, the understanding that makes possible truly democratic and just relationships between people and nations. Patients’ come together at the hospital’s exceptional crossroads of humanity and remind us of what our global neighborhood looks and feels and is like—like everyone of us.
Purchase from Amazon

Popular posts from this blog

Association of Professional Chaplains Experiencing Significant Financial Challenges

The Association of Professional Chaplains recently informed its membership that the organization is experiencing “significant financial challenges.” The APC president, Sue Wintz, related in a letter to the APC membership that the association has made some $80,000 cuts to its budget. The president’s letter requested that APC members consider making a donation of at least $25, 00 to help off set any additional cuts which might have to be made to the organization’s budget. APC Board Certified Chaplains pay annual dues of $265.00 representing some of the highest fees in the profession.

ACPE Certification Process Experienced As "Subjective & Adversarial"

ACPE certification process experienced as "subjective and adversarial, without definable processes for advocacy and mentoring of candidates." REPORT OF THE ACPE PRESIDENTIAL TASK GROUP ON TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION AUGUST, 2006 Regarding certification: While our certifiers provide high quality and dedicated assessment, our standards for certification are open to subjective interpretation and often reflect differing understandings. Dominant and emerging concepts in supervisory education lack articulation and uniform understanding. The certification experience is sometimes surprising and painful and is occasionally perceived by candidates as failing to reflect the core values of our organization. The presenter's report, while typically reflecting a high level of insight and skill on the part of the writer, remains a tool of arguable value that demands a great deal of work from one person. At its best, the report clarifies and focuses the competencies being assessed, and y...
Master Fezziwig Knew a Thing or Two about Celebrating Employees Borne there by the Spirit of Christmas-Past the scene opens: It is Christmas once more and Scrooge is standing outside the warehouse where once he was an apprentice. They go inside and Scrooge is delighted to find his former boss – Mr Fezziwig. Mr Fezziwig is instructing a young Scrooge and his fellow apprentice, Dick, to ready the premises for their annual Christmas party. The scene fills as in come a fiddler, Mrs Fezziwig, all the other Fezziwigs together with all the employees. They enjoy music and dancing and when finally the joyous evening comes to a close Scrooge is forced to reflect on his own treatment as an employer regarding his staff. “When the clock struck eleven, this domestic ball broke up. Mr and Mrs Fezziwig took their stations, one on either side of the door, and shaking hands with every person individually as he or she went out, wished him or her a Merry Christmas. When every...