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.

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.

William Albert's, a CPSP Diplomate, prophetic voice was once again heard in his recently published article in Counter Punch on January 16, 2012 entitled From Worship to Wall Street.

Alberts writes: "When a controversial protest movement arises, Christians often ask themselves, “What would Jesus do?” Thus today the repeated question, “Would Jesus join the Occupy Wall Street Movement?

Certain Christians say Jesus would not be involved in Occupy Wall Street protests against capitalistic America’s widening economic and political gulf between rich and poor persons."

Dr. Alberts precedes to challenge Tony Perkins, president of the influential conservative Christian Family Research Council opposition to the Occupy Wall Street movement.

On the strength of the article, Dr. Alberts was interviewed by Press TV.

DOWNLOAD 2012 CPSP PLENARY BROCHURE

Editor's Note:We regret that the links in the above CPSP Plenary Brochure are not active. We are working to rectify this ASAP. For now, download the document below, A Gathering Together, that contains the active links.

"DOWNLOAD "A GATHERING TOGETHER"

January 2, 2012

TO MEMBERS AND FRIENDS OF CPSP
AND TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE CLINICAL PASTORAL COMMUNITY

The leadership of CPSP regrets to inform you that the mediation process between CPSP and ACPE has broken down. The Mediation Agreement which was signed with high hopes in Philadelphia, November 30, 2010, by the leadership of both organizations, and which created a good spirit and considerable optimism in the larger clinical pastoral field, has been critically breached.

The rupture has come about as a result of a threat from ACPE against the Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center's chaplaincy program as it goes for re-accreditation in January.  The medical center’s clinical training program is directed by John deVelder has been accredited by ACPE for several decades. DeVelder is a certified CPE Supervisor with both ACPE and CPSP credentials. He is a prominent clinical pastoral supervisor, well-respected, past President of CPSP and former Chair of the COMISS Network.

The hospital was informed by ACPE that its accreditation would be in jeopardy if it failed to disassociate itself officially from CPSP. Since the hospital's administration did not want a fight on its hands between two accrediting organizations, it forced deVelder to resign from CPSP on December 16. 

The 2010 Mediation Agreement was posited on the mutual agreement that ACPE would no longer enforce the hostile and derogatory language that had earlier been made official in the so-called ACPE "Article 43."  That article publicly describes CPSP programs as lacking in "consistent application of program standards…" and marked by "a lack of transparency" as well as unfair market practices. Such charges are without substance, and are clearly incongruent with the Mediation Agreement. Furthermore, such accusations are unbecoming of any clinical pastoral community's description of another, unless substantiated by persuasive evidence.

The 2010 Mediation Agreement states explicitly that ACPE and CPSP will refrain from mutual disparagement, or of judging the respective value of the other organization's programs.

ACPE has damaged the reputation of CPSP at Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center, and done so without a basis in fact. No self-respecting community can sit idle while its reputation is being tarnished in this way.

Therefore CPSP is requesting that the two organizations return to the negotiating table without delay in order to resolve in the best way possible the damage inflicted on CPSP at Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center. 

The clinical training movement is a relatively small part of the wider culture. The work we are called to do is currently imperiled by many forces beyond our control. All the organizations in our field need to support one another as much as we are able. Ruthless competition amongst us is damaging to the entire movement.

As leaders in the field of religion and counseling we will bring shame on ourselves and the entire clinical pastoral movement if we are not able quickly to repair this breach and restore amicable relations between ACPE and CPSP.

We in CPSP are committed to the redemptive process in all human relationships and remain committed to the Mediation Agreement signed November, 30, 2010. We urge the ACPE to abide by that agreement as the only basis for a continuing collegial relationship between the two communities.

We are hopeful about the possibilities of repairing the damage done the clinical pastoral movement at Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center, and we urge the leadership of ACPE to join us at the negotiating table in an attempt to undo this damage.

Raymond J. Lawrence
General Secretary, CPSP

Barbara McGuire, CPSP Registrar shared this video during the holiday season.

It is a simple yet profound message: "Change Your Words...Change Your World."

What if we changed our words we use with our mates, lovers, friends, children, family, enemies, employees, employers, trainees and the little people we see on the street and those who wait our tables and clean our floors?

What if the various clinical pastoral organizations such as the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy, the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education and the Association for Professional Chaplains, etc changed the words we use in relationship with one another?

I think we know. We would change our world.

I hope in this new year of 2012 we might find the wisdom and the courage to change our words. Our world depends upon it.

Perry Miller, Editor

I am always touched by the power of human bonding, even with a pet. Such bonding can be transformative. As the training supervisor for an Urban Ministry CPE training program, I have seen this more than once in the pastoral ministry provided by CPE Interns and Residents.

The link below is a sad story that again makes the point that life and its meaning for those who have fallen on hard times can come down to the love and affection between a pet and its owner.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/30/humane-society-sparks-out_n_1175760.html?ref=email_share

I have the hope that in in this new year 0f 2012, we in the clinical pastoral movement will ponder how we might work together to serve the "least of these" who are broken in spirit, life and relationships. Such would be a far more noble calling than the current atmosphre that is focused on competition, market shares and self-serving interest.

Happy New Year!

Perry Miller, Editor

UMAS is an accredited CPSP CPE training center with a large number of CPE Residents and Interns. There is a lot of pastoral care and counseling taking place in this medical institution. The article speaks of how clinical chaplains at UAMS are integrated into the total care of patients and families. George Buck, CPE Supervisor notes that chaplains ...play a supportive role to help the patient call upon their own faith or philosophy of life as a source of comfort...

The auhtor provides a graphic and touching snapshot of Susan McDougal, a CPSP Board Certified Clinical Chaplain at UAMS:

McDougal, a Quaker, is the newest full-time chaplain at the Medical Center, joining the team in June 2011 after completing the UAMS Clinical Pastoral Education program. Her interest in becoming a chaplain was kindled by 18 months spent in prison for refusing to answer grand jury questions related to the Whitewater investigation of then-President Bill Clinton.

“I was frightened in jail,” said McDougal. “These were women at the worst time in their lives, yet they embraced me and cared about me.

“It changed me and made me want to live up to that by offering a personal connection, comfort and caring to those who are in a time of trauma.”

From Left to Right: George Hankins Hull, Susan McDougal and George Buck

George Hankins Hull, director of the department and the CPE clinical training program, speaks of the unique role of chaplain as the "interpreter of "metaphors and connections":

(Presented at Boston Medical Center’s Spiritual Care Department’s annual Spiritual Care Week Award Celebration, November 30, 2011.)

I’m honored and delighted to be the speaker at your annual Spiritual Care Award Celebration here at Boston Medical Center, with Lorien Manns selected to receive this year’s Award.

On July 15, as you know, I retired as hospital chaplain on the Newton Pavilion, after 18 and ½ years. And I’m very pleased that Sam Lowe was hired to replace me.
I’m most fortunate to have been a hospital chaplain at Boston Medical Center. In a ministry spanning over 62 years, that has included certain challenging involvements, Boston Medical Center has been an ideal place for me to work and thrive. You made it so. Thank you.

The annual Spiritual Care Award offers the opportunity to recognize the invaluable contribution the Spiritual Care Department makes to Boston Medical Center, and also to recognize a staff person who has especially enabled the hospital’s chaplains in their work. This year the Spiritual Care Department has selected Lorien Manns as the recipient of the Award.

Lorien is a guest services staff person at the information desk at the Menino Pavilion’s Emergency Room entrance. She embodies Boston Medical Center’s mission of ‘EXCEPTIONAL CARE. WITHOUT EXCEPTION.’ That is the way I saw her interact with people at the critical Emergency Room intersection on Albany Street. And that is the way she had interacted with me as well.

I asked Menino Pavilion hospital chaplain Jennie Gould to tell me a little about why the Pastoral Care Department selected Lorien for this year’s Award. Jennie responded, “She is a very warm and caring person.”

I thought, my goodness. That’s right out of the Bible. I Corinthians 13 states, “If I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but” am not “warm and caring,” “I am nothing.” I know I omitted the words “but have not love.” But what is “love?” Lorien puts flesh and blood on “love” by being “warm and caring.”

The blessing of cells and ‘positive spiritual guidance’, whatever that means, no doubt brings comfort to some people, but most competent well-trained chaplains will cringe at hearing their roles thus epitomised. Friendly companionship and familiar religious rituals, such as the blessing of this or that, undoubtedly bring comfort to some people. But such services hardly require years of rigorous clinical training that many health care chaplains have these days.

An unbiased and uninvolved reader of this Wall Street Journal article would certainly conclude that all those clinically trained chaplains who invested two, three, and more years developing their clinically skills in internships and residencies wasted a lot of time and money. They could have better spent a few weeks learning to say prayers and the art of friendly conversation.

Most competent clinically trained chaplains do not consider prayer a major therapeutic tool. Many, perhaps most pastoral visits by chaplains do not and arguably should not include prayer at all. The point here is that clinically trained chaplains offer a therapeutic ear for persons in trouble, an ear that is somewhat removed from the scientifically-oriented medical team, an ear that is trained both theologically and psychologically.

Anton T. Boisen, the man who in the early twentieth century inaugurated clinical pastoral training for clergy was not the proverbial prayer warrior. He did not promote prayer with patients as the central tool. What he did promote and emphasize passionately was that chaplains should be trained to listen to patients with a sensitive and psychologically informed ear. “It’s not what the chaplain says to the patient, but what the patient says to the chaplain.” And the corollary is of course, that competent listening requires a considerable amount of intensive psychologically based training. Boisen also taught that ministers must have a basic knowledge of psychoanalytically psychology, without which no competent listening can take place.

Though years have gone by, and the old-time circus has faded away, who can forget the hall of mirrors we kids of yesteryear enjoyed. Eerie images, spooky and weird, with little bodies and big heads or big bodies with little heads stared back at us … and we loved every minute of it.

Like a hall of mirrors, ours is a world of illusions, where truth is often discounted or ignored, replaced by images, reflections of the real. All of us are affected by this Alice in Wonderland syndrome whether we realize it or not. Through entertainment and advertising, multimedia experts allure millions into accepting the superficial as norm and appearances as real.

Across the centuries, great minds from almost every tradition have affirmed the truth of the oneness of the human family, yet we still imagine ourselves to be separate from one another and have demonstrated this illusion by creating a world more fragmented than ever. We are no closer to healthy relationships now than when warriors from the past showed their military might by throwing stones at each other. All that’s changed is the size of our stones. We still can’t get along. Separatism has become our mantra and unity a mirage.

What is it about our lifestyles that cause us to ignore the obvious and accept the imaginary? Who cast the spell that has imprisoned us in a land of make-believe? What in the world’s going on?

Perhaps it’s time we took a closer look at the truth behind our illusions, re-examined the distorted images we’ve put in place, the processes and thinking that deepen the rifts between us, that give mixed messages and continue to move us and our children in directions that are unacceptable and jeopardize our future.

At this Thanksgiving season we in CPSP have much to be thankful for. We are prospering as a community both in this country and overseas. We have come into our own as a significant community among the many communities that promote clinical pastoral work.

We are also approaching November 30, the first anniversary of the Mediation Agreement signed by the ACPE and CPSP, signed appropriately enough in Philadelphia. This agreement put an end to two decades of animosity that was subverting the high goals of both communities.

We are grateful especially to leaders of the Religious Endorsing Bodies without whom this agreement might ever have come to fruition. We are grateful, and we look forward to a deepening sense of collegiality between the two communities.

The members of the CPSP Mediation Team who, with our ACPE colleagues brought this agreement to pass, are Jim Gebhart, Perry Miller, George Hankins-Hull, and me.

In February a subcommittee was appointed to undertake the detailed discussions with our ACPE colleagues as they implemented the Agreement. This sub-committee has had one face to face meeting and numerous phone meetings. Jim Gebhart chairs this committee, which includes Annari Griesel and John deVelder. They have addressed and are continuing to address several complaints that have been presented from our side to ACPE of possible violations of the Mediation Agreement.

We have every hope that this dialogue group will continue its work in the positive and cooperative spirit in which it began.

We believe we are entering a new era in which the ACPE and CPSP will be more fully colleagues in our common work. And for that anticipation we can all be very thankful.

Given our progress together we are thankful that we seem to have entered a new era of mutual collegiality as becomes our common calling.

I wish you all a blessed Thanksgiving.

-Raymond J. Lawrence, CPSP General Secretary

Taking a Break and Enjoying the Sun and Sea at NCTS-East

Left to Right: Barbara McGuire, David Baker, Francine Angel Hernandez and John DeVelder

The Fall NCTS EAST was awesome! This was the largest yet! We had 68 attendees. The Stella Maris Retreat only holds 45, but many of the attendees stayed at hotels and some were commuters. The power of the small group still is the crux of NCTS. We had ten small groups, four of which were Supervisors in training. The other six were made up of staff chaplains, chaplain interns, chaplain residents and certified chaplains. During the presenters’ report session, there was evidenced of critical reflections and critical feedback taking place in small groups. The energy of the attendees was refreshing! Stella Maris Retreat, located on the ocean gave a fresh breeze and new life to this seminar. Just hearing the attendees share in this experience was a true reflection of recovery of souls.

CPSP is increasingly involved in Asia. We were well represented at the International Council for Pastoral Care and Counseling (ICPCC) that met in Rotorua, New Zealand in August. CPSP was represented by persons from the U.S., Malaysia, and Hong Kong. Raymond Lawrence conducted a seminar on group theory and practice in clinical training. Richard Liew was nominated by Lawrence and elected by the assembly as treasurer for ICPCC for the next four years. The ICPCC convenes every four years, rotating its meeting venue.

CPSP speakers at the Seoul Conference with hosts on each side: (From left to right) Do Bong Kim, Joel Aguirre, Raymond Lawrence, Mei-po Young Tam, Cesar Espineda, and Taesuk Kang. Missing from the photo was Diplomate Mu-gun Chong.

CPSP Diplomate David Plummer has become Chair of COMISS.

COMISS is the one and only organization where certifying bodies, religious judicatories, and seminaries meet to share their mutual interests and concerns. It is an interfaith and interdisciplinary community. Its initials stand originally for Congress on Ministry in Specialized Settings, but now refers to itself as COMISS Network.

We congratulate David on his promotion to this significant position of leadership and wish him well in his tenure.

Raymond J. Lawrence
General Secretary, CPSP