The College of Pastoral Supervision & Psychotherapy is a theologically based covenant community, dedicated to "recovery of the soul" and promoting competency in the clinical pastoral field.
Continue reading "WORDS OF WISDOM"
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 9:13 PM
“What about Pastoral Supervision of the Field of Clinical Pastoral Chaplaincy?”
– Comments Honoring the Rev. Dr. Kenneth Holt Pohly –
delivered in Pittsburgh, PA, on 28 March 2012 at the Plenary of
the College of Pastoral Supervision & Psychotherapy
Robert Charles Powell, MD, PhD
– on the 110th anniversary of Helen Flanders Dunbar’s birth.
– on the 150th anniversary of the birth of Dunbar’s &
the movement’s patroness, Ethel Phelps Stokes Hoyt (1877-1952)
– on the 135th anniversary of the birth of Anton Theophilus Boisen’s &
the movement’s conceptual forebearer, Elwood Worcester (1862-1940).
– on the 70th anniversary of Religion in Illness and Health,
written by Dunbar’s student & Boisen’s understudy, Chaplain Carroll A. Wise.
– on the 65th anniversary of Dunbar’s best-seller,
Mind and Body: Psychosomatic Medicine.
– on the 65th anniversary of The Journal of Pastoral Care &
The Journal of Clinical Pastoral Work
[these into the eventual Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling].
– on the 35th anniversary of Pastoral Supervision: Inquiries into Pastoral Care,”
written by Kenneth Holt Pohly.
– on the 25th anniversary of the infamous “Underground Report” –
that was circulated among all North American clinical pastoral supervisors &
that lead directly to the founding of the CPSP.
– on the 20th anniversary of the 1st CPSP Plenary
(& the 22nd anniversary of the founding of CPSP).
– on the 10th anniversary of organization by Chaplain Foy Richey (1943-2011) of the
1st joint meeting of the CPSP & The American Association of Pastoral Counselors.
– on the 10th anniversary of the reaffirmation by the CPSP Governing Council that,
when war is a consideration, vision must precede action [cf, Proverbs 29:18]
The primary task of pastoral supervision is …
to help its participants be clear
about who they are,
so they can
become more [consciously] competent,
confront crises more constructively, and
do ministry more effectively.
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 8:50 AM
Having been active in [the clinical pastoral field] …, and feeling the
estrangement of spiritual depth …, I was introduced to the College of
Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy, which asserts … that… it is
a theologically based certifying and accrediting community … dedicated to ‘recovery of soul’.
That statement made me look at the recovery of soul in the groups in
which I was involved …. It caused me to look at my own life. …
I believe that the condition of the soul is the priority concern of each of us
and every one of the organizations of which we are a part.
Greetings! May Grace and Peace be with you! …
I have been aware of the Dunbar name and tradition since my seminary days. I ran across her name in my readings, but at the time I did not pursue her work. It was years later, after twenty years of pastoring in a local church and on a college campus, that I “discovered” Helen Flanders Dunbar. …
I was only in my first year of teaching when my teaching colleague, Dr. Harry DeWire, invited me to attend an evening social event of the area chaplains and clinical teachers. I was fresh off my doctoral studies, a significant part of which had taken place at Vanderbilt University Hospital. I had also recently completed the writing of my doctoral dissertation on “The Clinical Method in Theological Education”. The contents of the dissertation were designed to become the basis for the newly conceived curriculum at United Theological Seminary [“UTS”, in Dayton, Ohio]. … In the same period of time, the early ‘70’s, I attended my first biennial meeting of what is now known at the Association of Theological Field Education (ATFE). …
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 8:40 AM
April 17, 2012
The dream of a CPSP community where each person’s voice and dreams are heard and valued is becoming a reality. The dream is becoming realized of a moment when we would embrace each other with a spirit of unity in the primary things, such as serving others with justice, compassion and humility. The dream is coming to fruition of a day when we would value and celebrate liberty in the secondary things, such as diverse ways of providing competent care of the soul. The dream is among us of a time when we would deliver pastoral care and counseling moved solely by love and with an unwavering commitment to excellence. We are indeed seeing and sensing the waves of that dream as our diverse and beloved community, making use of its creativity, ingenuity and spontaneity to open new doors and routes to serve humankind. Through our accredited centers we are offering clinical pastoral training; and through our certified pastoral caregivers we are providing chaplaincies and counseling services in hospitals, hospices, nursing homes, assisted living, clinics, industries, schools, prisons and churches. Moreover, our clinically trained caregivers and pastoral educators are also providing services under bridges, on farms and even in many unimaginable places around the world. We celebrate who we are as a community of both dreamers and doers.
Jürgen Moltmann (2000) suggests that a life lived in community is a reflection of the divine social existence. This kind of communion reaches beyond merely recognizing each other as living image of God. It also entails the promotion of wellbeing for each member of the community. This way of being together is possible as we embrace values such as respect, solidarity, mutuality, freedom, harmony and benevolence. As we continue this level of social connection we can survive and thrive as persons and as a community.
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 8:38 AM
The College of Pastoral Supervision & Psychotherapy (CPSP) will now offer a clinical fellow in hospice and palliative care. This will be a subspecialty credential for those already credentialed as Board Certified Clinical Chaplains / Board Certified Pastoral Counselors.
Procedure:
Chapters will receive requests from candidates for this certification, and will review the request within the purview of the Chapter’s expertise. Some Chapters will have no specific expertise in this field. The Chapter will of course attest to the clinical expertise generally of the candidate. No approved consultant need be present for this review.
The candidate’s application for certification will then go to the Hospice and Palliative Care Certification Committee (HPCC) for review. The HPCC Committee will establish a review for the candidate. The HPCC may also refer the request back to the Chapter for revision. Or it may deny certification for stated reasons.
The certifications decided by the HPCC will be forwarded to the Certification Committee, reviewed, and then be forwarded to the Governing Council for ratification.
A one time fee for this certification is: $100.
For further information please contact:
Barbara A. McGuire at: cpspregistrar@gmail.com
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 8:39 AM
Francine Hernandez, Coordinator of CPSP's National Clinical Training Seminar, provided the following announcement:
The Spring NCTS 2012 is right around the corner. (MAY 21-22) Many of us experienced growth and self-understanding during the small groups at the Plenary! At the NCTS we can continue that process and hopefully impact the growth of others in our small groups. The theme for this NCTS is: “CHAPTER BASED GOVERNANCE”. Dr. David Roth will introduce this concept on Monday and Dr. Steven Voytovich will make comments on Tuesday from a former convener‘s role and his international work.Please read the article: THE FUTURE OF GOVERNANCE IN THE COLLEGE OF PASTORAL SUPERVISION AND PSYCHOTHERAPY by David Roth, PhD on the Pastoral Report.
As we forge into the future, this is a new paradigm of governance for our ever growing CPSP community! Plan to attend! Come prepared to present in the small groups and come with an openness of heart and mind to grasp this new the vision for CPSP! -Francine Hernandez
Once again, the NCTS through Francine Hernandez's leadership, continues to provide cutting edge opportunities for all members of the CPSP community. Do keep in mind that the focus remains clinical and all participants are expected to come prepared to present clinical material in their small groups. Equally true, all should enter into the discussion of CHAPTER BASED GOVERNANCE with an acute clinical eye.
DOWNLOAD NCTS REGISTRATION FORM
-Perry Miller, Editor
Continue reading "2012 SPRING NATIONAL CLINICAL TRAINING SEMINAR ANNOUNCED"
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 7:27 PM
The 2012 Plenary had the largest registration yet, at 198 persons. We are grateful to Charlie Starr, who was the patient and competent host for the meeting, to George Hankins-Hull, who was chair of the organizing committee, and to many others who helped plan and conduct the meeting. The hotel accommodations at Doubletree were the best ever, allowing us to have our small groups in hotel suites rather than bedrooms.
The meeting began on Sunday with considerable tension, but by Wednesday the sense of connection and general good feeling within the community was palpable. The closing Tavistock event was quite different from any previous one. Since Tavistock is a time set aside for attention to the unconscious, and usually means a time for all random negativity and devilishness to be expressed, this Tavistock was virtually a love feast. No one interrupted anyone else. Respect was shown all around. Talk was thoughtful and rational. Clearly this was not a typical Tavistock session, leaving the consultant a bit puzzled. My belated interpretation of that radical departure from the expected is that so much venom was spilled in the Sunday and Monday meetings of the Governing Council that the community frightened itself and decided to reunite in collegiality. It was if we had sailed into blue water and high sky after passing through a terrible storm. And a terrible storm it was.
The Sunday night meeting of the Governing Council was the most troubling event of the week, possibly the most troubling event in CPSP history. An attempt was made to reverse our 22-year tradition of making decisions by consensus, and to assert the use of Robert’s Rules of Order, or a variant of it. The meeting itself was populated by more than a hundred persons, most of whom were not bona fide Chapter representatives, and many of whom were not even members of CPSP. Some of the non-members seemed to do most of the talking. Furthermore, voice votes were taken on critical issues, with the loudest voices apparently from persons who did not belong to the Governing Council, or in some cases did not even belong to CPSP. This resulted in a kind of mob rule, or as Kelly Fogarty put it, “a mob mentality.” The meeting extended to almost four hours, leaving everyone drained and in shock.
Continue reading "REPORT ON THE PITTSBURGH PLENARY by Raymond J. Lawrence, General Secretary"
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 9:44 AM
It has been over half a century since I served as a hospital chaplain and even then it was sort of incognito. As a doctoral student at Boston University I had landed a part-time job as the Executive Secretary of the Institute of Pastoral Care, at the time one of the two major organizations providing Clinical Pastoral Education to seminarians. For a variety of reasons—mostly financial—the Institute had me share an office with the hospital chaplain of the Massachusetts General Hospital—rent free. Jim Burns was the chaplain and to say that he was overworked would be putting it mildly. Partly because of his work load, and noting that some days my administrative work for the Institute was light, he recruited me to call on patients “if I wanted to.”
At the time I had had but one summer unit of Clinical Pastoral Education and from that experience decided that I wasn’t about to switch from preparing for a teaching ministry in one of my denomination’s colleges to that of a health care ministry in a general or mental hospital. That decision was enforced when one of the first patients Jim asked me to visit was a truck driver from Tennessee who, while driving through the city of Boston, developed severe back pains, serious enough to lead to his being hospitalized.
In those days a hospital chaplain wore a grey jacket quite similar to what physicians and orderlies wore except that on the chaplain’s lapels were two silver crosses. So as I entered the truck driver’s room, he stared at me—probably hoping I was a doctor—then quickly shifted his gaze to the silver crosses, and barked, “Now what the hell do you want?”
I was reminded of that ancient memory when William E. Alberts invited me to read Hospital Chaplain at the Crossroads of Humanity, and as I read Bill’s extraordinary accounts of some of his interactions with the thousands of patients he has served in his health care ministry, I could not help but wonder what my career decision might have been had I known, and truly internalized, Chaplain Alberts’ rich notions of what hospital chapaincy is all about.
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 9:58 PM
I am happy to report that we have a President-Elect. This community is blessed to have such a distinguished scholar and religious leader to accept this office.
Brian Childs is currently Director of Ethics at Shore Health System, University of Maryland Medical System, and a member of the Chesapeake Chapter, certified as a Diplomate in Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy. He is a minister in the United Presbyterian Church, Presbytery of Baltimore. Earlier he held a chair as Professor of Pastoral Theology at Columbia Theological Seminary. He is a Princeton Ph.D., a protege of Seward Hiltner, and an AAMFT Supervisor. His writings and his leadership positions are too numerous to list here. Suffice it say that Brian is a person of substance and erudition, and we are fortunate to have him willing to assume a significant leadership role in our community.
The Standards of CPSP define the role of the President as follows:
Continue reading "FROM THE GENERAL SECRETARY: Brian H. Childs, CPSP President-Elect "
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 8:37 AM
I am currently the Chair of the Association of Religious Endorsers (AREB). I have something to share with all of you that is not itself politically charged, relating to our journey these past two days.
About ten days ago I was working at my desk. I needed to access a file still on a “floppy disc,” and began to think about how long it would be before this media can no longer be accessed. Having a number of floppy discs with files that represented earlier projects and programs, I began, in the midst of all the other pressing matters surrounding me, converting them one by one onto a master file to be loaded onto a compact disc “CD.” While doing this I was divided between completing this task that I had begun, or moving on to other critical issues, not unlike other times when I have felt like I am being guided in taking steps or undertaking tasks for reasons unknown to me in the moment. Now I understand that it was God’s hand that was guiding me that day.
What occurred during these two Governing Council sessions was very important in terms opening greater transparency and engaging the whole community in dealing with difficult matters and concerns. Like many of you, however, I was out quite out of sorts after the Monday evening Governing Council time. These had been very difficult sessions on many levels, especially relationally. As several of us sat together to debrief, I was aware that in the morning the endorsers would be meeting with CPSP leadership. I went ahead and invited Esteban Montilla, our President, to join us at the breakfast table.
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 8:06 AM
I do not offer "good" news, I offer something "better"; better news. There is no need to apologize for the statement that the CPSP is really committed to being and becoming a BETTER certifying body than any other cognate group. And, we believe that our way of organizing and certifying is a better way to achieve competence, accountability and support for professional pastoral care givers. Period!
Meanwhile, over the past 22 years, it seems that some of our members have forgotten that we are committed evangelists and not just a club that some consider easier to join.
Golda Meir once said, "Don't be so humble; you're not that great."
Humility was expressed as a virtue because of the sin or tendency of human nature to elevate itself above its proper place. The need to "lower" yourself was to counter the degree to which you falsely elevated yourself. Jesus encouraged the arriving guest to avoid sitting in the place of honor, not because it was good to be "humble" or because you might not deserve it, but because someone else of greater merit might show up and you would have to move your sorry self. To be "humble" is to be in touch with the very earth [humus] or substance of who we are, neither elevated and inflated nor demeaned and unworthy.
False humility and self-deception are failings of character that betray our ability to trust ourselves. In both failings we inevitably lose our sense of who we really are. In the case of false humility, we trick ourselves into believing that we will be respected and respect ourselves for denying what we really believe about ourselves and our values. In the case of self-deception, we destroy the very pathways upon which we journey in pursuit of our values.
Continue reading "It is Humble to be Better ---by Bill Scar"
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 12:11 PM
Trying to figure out what clothes to pack for the 2012 CPSP Plenary, check Pittsburgh's weather.
http://www.wunderground.com/US/PA/Pittsburgh.html
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 11:39 AM
Author's Note: Last November I sustained a broken right forearm. It was a simple fall but I landed in such a way that I fractured the bone. For the next three months I was in a full arm cast which brought to an abrupt halt my work at the hospital not to mention daily activities such as driving, writing, typing, cooking and almost every other thing that one does with their dominant arm.
Shortly before having the cast off, feeling like I was on “house arrest” and frustrated on almost every front, I woke up one morning and slowly used the hunt and peck method with my left hand to put into words my frustration in hopes of seeing a “reason” for this suspended time in my life. The following poem came out. It says a lot about the grand plans that we make for ourselves and how they can be derailed out of control in a split second.
As a chaplain, I ended up “ministering” to myself through poetry. The lesson is universal, applicable to those in the hospital and those whose lives are put on hold. The Lesson within is also universal, namely, that while we think we know where we are going, our life work may be elsewhere.
Waiting to “Recalculate”
Speeding along the road I’ve finally chosen.
GPS taking me the fastest route.
By passing places and people I think I don’t need.
And then, along this back road “short cut”, I am stalled yet again by a herd of meandering cows.
I stop.
My car and I simply idle in neutral, burning gas and going nowhere fast.
Frustration.
Impatience.
Anger mounting.
Where are they going anyway?
There’s no road or path or barn anywhere in sight?
What do they know that I don’t?
Right arm broken so have to do everything with my left hand.
Have to do everything with the wrong hand.
Frustration.
Impatience.
Anger mounting.
Damn these cows.
Don’t they know they’re supposed to be somewhere important?
Don’t they know that someone needs them or that they have some vital work to do?
Do they even know where they are going?
Continue reading "A POEM: Waiting to “Recalculate" BY Franklin Courson, Ed.D."
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 5:55 PM
Narciso Dumalagen died in the early hours of March 4, in the Philippine Heart Center in Manila. He was afflicted with metastatic disease from liver cancer. He was 80.
Narciso (or Nars as many liked to call him) and I were good friends for half a century. We trained together in 1967, in Houston, under the supervision of the legendary Armen Jorjorian, and stayed in contact ever since. I visited several times recently with Narciso and his wife Mining before she died in 2007.
Coincidentally, I arrived in Manila on March 1, for meetings, and heard immediately that Narciso had been hospitalized. I was taken to see him the next day. He was clearly dying, though he recognized me and spoke my name. His son Armenito and others were caring for him. Narciso has two children, each named after beloved mentors, Armenito after Jorjorian, and Lorraine, who now lives in Toronto.
When the history of clinical pastoral training is written, Narciso will be a major figure in the Southeast Asia. He succeeded the late Al Dalton as Director of Chaplains at St Luke’s Hospital, Manila, in 1968. St Luke’s is said to be the preeminent hospital in southeast Asia. In later years he retired and started his own consulting business. Finally he opened a school and church for disadvantaged children which called the Garden of Life. There, in his last days, as he weakened, he was patriarch.
Continue reading "A TRIBUTE TO NARCISO DUMALAGEN by Raymond J. Lawrence"
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 12:25 PM
The College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy has experienced remarkable growth in its short, nearly 22-year history. This has especially been true in the last five years when both our membership and the number of our chapters have doubled. We are now more than 1,000 in all, gathered in over 100 chapters and chapters-in-formation. This growth has taken place in a time when some of the other major pastoral care organizations have witnessed their memberships shrinking and some have struggled financially.
Critics of CPSP have expressed theories on why we are growing so rapidly. One prominent leader in another certifying body insisted to me at lunch one day that it was because CPSP “has no standards and would certify anyone who showed up ready to pay their dues.” This certainly isn’t my experience. However, with enormous, rapid growth, it is possible for cases to arise where our high professional Standards (which are published online for everyone to read) are not uniformly applied. Bill Scar addressed this issue last Fall1. Fair but uncompromising solutions to remedy such cases are not far away. Even allowing for certain instances where Standards may have been compromised, this cannot begin to explain the College’s appeal.
HOW CPSP IS UNIQUE
It is important to make a distinction: while we do certify members and accredit training programs, CPSP is not a pastoral care professional organization of the same sort as the others. Our expressed vision, organization and principal aims are fundamentally different from those of organizations such as APC, ACPE, AAPC, NAJC, NACC and others. While we too are about the business of accreditation and certification, our identity is expressed in a unique Covenant that lays out our ideals and is fostered by and perpetuated in the small Chapters upon which CPSP is based. Ours is the only integrated community of pastoral caregivers of every sort at all levels of professional development. Certifying and accrediting in CPSP flows from and gives expression to this vibrant, organic community life that is ongoing and demanding in a way that enriches us all. I believe it is our unique Covenant and Chapter life that have fostered our remarkable growth. I happen to believe that our model is superior to the others inasmuch as it is more congruent with the work we do as pastoral caregivers rather than modeled after so many other disparate professional organizations.
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 9:32 AM
Dear Editor:
Thank you for publishing Al Heniger's essay on The Evolution of Palliative Care. I wholeheartedly believe that devoted care is the obvious ideal model upon which to focus.
Please let me repeat the opening quotations in an article here last July -- along with the endnote explaining those quotations.
Spiritual care comes from the heart after the head has done its homework.
palliative care … should form part of the care of all who are ill, mentally or physically.
The endnote was,
"The opening quotations are from Henry T. Dom, Ph.D., as cited in
Dom H. 'Vaisnava Hindu and Ayurvedic approaches to caring for the dying: An interview with Henry Dom.' by Romer AL, Heller KS. Innovations in
End-of-Life Care, 1999 Nov;1(6); http://www2.edc.org/lastacts/archives/archivesNov99/intlpersp.asp ;
'…he is helping to create a palliative care unit for the newly established Bhaktivedanta Hospital in Mumbai, and is one of the founders of a
planned hospice and residential home in Vrndavan, a small village in northeast India.' "
The BhaktiVedanta Hospice in Vrindavan, India, opened in August 2010 -- followed by the similar BhaktiVedanta Care Center in Durban, South
Africa in October 2011. Perhaps North America will be next to host a BhaktiVedanta Hospice.
The next issue of the Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling will carry my review of the BhaktiVedanta palliative care training manual:
The Final Journey: Complete Hospice Care for the Departing Vaisnava. 2nd revised edition. Susan Pattinson. (Badger, CA: Torchlight Publishing
Co, 2011). xviii+252pp. $12.95. (paperback).
Robert Charles Powell, MD, PhD
"Report from India: A Pastoral Care Department that Runs Its Own Hospital." 18 July 2011.
http://www.pastoralreport.com/the_archives/2011/07/revised_version.html
Continue reading "DEAR EDITOR: From Robert Charles Powell, MD, PhD"
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 8:51 PM
It was Ash Wednesday, the day after Mardi Gras and the beginning of Lent. I was late leaving the office that morning as I set out on my visits for the day, so it was close to noon when I arrived at the small nursing home that Darlene, one of our hospice patients, called home, tucked away in a residential neighborhood off a busy street. All six residents were at the dining room table finishing a lunch of chicken salad as I breezed in. A couple of heads turned my way in curiosity, but no one, not even Darlene, spoke. “Sorry to catch you at lunch time,” I apologized to Heather, the dark haired young caregiver sitting at the table with the elderly residents. “I’m Darlene’s hospice chaplain. I can wait until everyone’s done eating.” She smiled and nodded as I excused myself to use the restroom.
Even though I took my time, when I walked back into the dining area, everybody was still stoically chewing way at the chicken salad or chasing a piece of chopped celery around the plate with a fork. “Why don’t you sit and join us?” Heather invited with a smile. “I’d love to,” I answered. I took a seat across from Darlene between the only other man in the place on my right and a tiny, white haired woman on my left. I leaned across the table: “Hello Darlene. Do you remember me? I’m David, your chaplain.” Darlene had dementia and a recent diagnosis of incurable cancer. She was aware of her growing memory loss, but her son had chosen not to tell her about the tumor silently growing in her abdomen. She smiled brightly at me and replied in a surprisingly hearty voice: “No, I don’t remember meeting you. But it sure is nice to see you!” Then she turned her attention back to the chicken salad.
Continue reading "Out of the Ashes--- by David Pascoe"
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 8:47 PM
Al Heniger, A CPSP Board Certified Clinical Chaplain and Diplomate in Clinical Pastoral Education, is highly invested in the Palliative Care and and its continued development in the health care field. As you will see by the link he provided the Pastoral Report, Palliative Care is no longer limited to end of life issues:
"When patients are admitted to the intensive care unit at Virginia Mason Medical Center, they receive access to palliative care services that include pain and symptom management. Their families are given around-the-clock visiting hours, and are invited to attend clinical meetings where they are encouraged to ask questions about their loved one's care, says Michael Westley, M.D., medical director of critical care at the Seattle-based hospital. Westley says all ICU patients benefit from palliative care — not just those with a terminal diagnosis."
Go to: The Evolution of Palliative Care
Perry Miller, Editor
Continue reading "The Evolution of Palliative Care"
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 9:14 PM
With the implementation of MOLST an expected rise in patient anxiety will initially occur as health care workers will compel patients to respond to direct questions about care and end of life issues. MOLST (Maryland Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment) is a Maryland state form which standardizes medical orders covering options for CPR and other life sustaining treatments. It documents the results of the conversation between the health care professional and the patient or authorized decision maker.
For us in Maryland, MOLST does away with two existing forms: MIESS DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) order form and the Sustaining Treatment Options (LSTO) form. Formally, these forms were generated when patients entered a health care, assisted living center, or nursing home facility. These forms conveyed patients’ expressed will for selected interventions as in the case of a cardiac and/or pulmonary arrest and guided the activities of both by EMS (Emergence Medical Service) personnel and providers and in various health care settings. With initiation of MOLST only one form is used and no longer will a new one need be completed when a patient enters or is transferred from one facility to another. MOLST is designed to be portable and enduring; it never expires but maybe changed at any time according to the will of the patient.
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 10:27 PM
Say I Love You
It started soon after I started my CPE training. The first one was a gray-haired lady in her 80s. She told me her story and I listened, not saying much except to encourage her to go on, or to let her know I understood. When it came time to leave, I told her how much I appreciated her story, and I meant it. What a privilege it is to hear the joys, sorrows, frustrations and accomplishments of a human life! After I’d said my goodbye and was leaving the room, she said, “I love you.” I turned around as I heard her speak, and gave her a quick smile and a wave before I disappeared out the door.
I was nonplussed. My knee-jerk response to “I love you” is, of course, “I love you, too,” since the only people who say “I love you” to me, on a normal day, are family members or one of my very close friends. But what should one say to a person met only 30 minutes or an hour before who says, “I love you”? I shrugged it off. She was probably a little demented, or just confused, as so many elders get in the hospital; the strange environment, all the medications, whatever illness they have all conspiring to alter mental status, at least temporarily. She probably thought for a minute that I was her daughter, or a niece, I told myself; maybe a little transference was going on. Off I went, bravely ahead, on my rounds.
Not too long afterward, I had a long deep talk with a 75-year-old man who was to go home on hospice care. He talked with me about his fears, about his loneliness, about his adult children and their fractured relationships. Again, I felt that sense of awe and privilege at being a witness to humanity. And again, as I walked toward the door, I heard him say, “I love you.” I stopped. I turned. I smiled. “God bless you, Mr. Howard,” I said.
Continue reading "Say I Love You: A Theological Reflection---by Hollis Walker "
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 9:04 PM
New York City: It's a cold day in December. A little boy about 10-year-old was standing before a shoe store on Broadway, barefooted, peering through the window, and shivering with cold. A lady approached the boy and said, "My little fellow, why are you looking so earnestly in that window?"
"I was asking God to give me a pair of shoes," was the boy's reply.
The lady took him by the hand and went into the store, and asked the clerk to get a half dozen pairs of socks for the boy. She then asked if he could give her a basin of water and a towel. He quickly brought them to her. She took the little fellow to the back part of the store and, removing her gloves, knelt down, washed his little feet, and dried them with a towel.
By this time the clerk had returned with the socks. Placing a pair upon the boy's feet, she then purchased him a pair of shoes, and tying up the remaining pairs of socks, gave them to him. She patted him on the head and said, "No doubt, my little fellow, you feel more comfortable now?"
As she turned to go, the astonished lad caught her by the hand, and looking up in her face, with tears in his eyes, answered the question with these words: "Are you God's wife?"
Continue reading "Are You God's Wife? by: Author Unknown, Source Unknown"
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 8:30 PM
A list and description of the CPSP Plenary Workshops designed for the 2012 CPSP Plenary that will be held March 25-28, 2012 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania can be downloaded from the link posted below.
If you have not registered for the 2012 Plenary, act now. Join the CPSP Community in Pittsburgh where we will celebrate our life together.
DOWNLOAD: 2012 CPSP PLENARY WORKSHOPS
Continue reading "CPSP 2012 PLENARY WORKSHOPS ANNOUNCED"
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 9:38 AM
On the strong recommendation of Cesar Espineda, I registered for the 2012 National Meeting of APsaA, held January 10-15, at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City.
I may have been the only cleric in the large international gathering of psychoanalysts. Among the categories of registrants were psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and “others.” I registered in the latter category. I was very well received, as Cesar promised I would be. One analyst working for a large treatment center told me that they often found themselves thwarted in their patient work until they could bring in the patient's cleric or religious authority to provide reassurance and support to the patient.
There is considerable overlap in the work of the psychoanalyst, or any psychotherapist, and the work of clergy and religious authorities. This is contingent on the level of training of the cleric or religious authority. And the more clinical training and experience a religious authority has, the more overlap there is. Most all religious authorities function as counselors at some level of expertise, but only the most experienced function with the discipline approaching that of a trained psychoanalyst.
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 8:55 AM
I'm confident that I have just read one of the most deeply human and profound descriptions of the work of the clinical chaplain that I have ever encountered.
Kerry Egan is a hospice chaplain in Massachusetts and the author of "Fumbling: A Pilgrimage Tale of Love, Grief, and Spiritual Renewal on the Camino de Santiago."
She is featured in a CNN article published January 28, 2012 entitled My Faith: What People Talk about Before They Die.
She starts her article with an encounter with her seminary professor who quizzed her what she talked with dying people about in her clinical internship at a cancer Hospital:
"I talk to the patients," I told him."You talk to patients? And tell me, what do people who are sick and dying talk to the student chaplain about?" he asked.
I had never considered the question before. “Well,” I responded slowly, “Mostly we talk about their families.”
“Do you talk about God?
“Umm, not usually.”
“Or their religion?”
“Not so much.”
“The meaning of their lives?”
“Sometimes.”
“And prayer? Do you lead them in prayer? Or ritual?”
“Well,” I hesitated. “Sometimes. But not usually, not really.”
I felt derision creeping into the professor's voice. “So you just visit people and talk about their families?”
“Well, they talk. I mostly listen.”
“Huh.” He leaned back in his chair.
The next week in the professor's lecture he, without using her name, attempted to shame her clinical practice of ministry by saying: "...if I was ever sick in the hospital, if I was ever dying, that the last person I would ever want to see is some Harvard Divinity School student chaplain wanting to talk to me about my family.”
Obviously the professor believed that this was a time to talk about God, faith and life beyond, not family and loved ones. The young student said that she felt shame and regret now thinking that a more seasoned chaplain would have addressed the God and other theological issues with the dying. She had failed.
Continue reading "From the Editor: What People Talk About Before They Die"
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at 11:57 PM