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.
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At the recent COMISS Network’s Annaul Forum, the Rev. Linda Hanna Walling presented information on the organization “Faithful Reform.” Faithful Reform is an interfaith organization that promotes healthcare reform from a theological and justice-oriented perspective. Faithful Reform provides a crucial voice as our national leaders debate healthcare reform. At the end of the Forum, Rev. Walling presented the document “A Faith-Inspired Vision of Health Care” to President Obama and to the members of the US House and Senate. There are hundreds of individual and group signatories to the “Faith-Inspired Vision,” including CPSP.
Our decision to sign on to the “Faith Inspired Vision” was driven by the Governing Council’s decision in November to endorse comprehensive healthcare reform as a moral issue. All members of CPSP are urged to contact the President and their Senators and Representatives and to urge them to set aside partisan differences and to work to provide quality, comprehensive healthcare for all Americans. In addition, Faithful Reform’s website lists a number of other actions that each of us can take to work toward healthcare reform: www.faithfulreform.org.
The text of the “Faith Inspired Vision of Health Care” is below:
Vision ~ Inclusive: Health care is a shared responsibility that is grounded in our common humanity. In the bonds of our human family, we are created to be equal. We are guided by a divine will to treat each person with dignity and to live together as an inclusive community. Affirming our commitment to the common good, we acknowledge our enduring responsibility to care for one another. As we recognize that society is whole only when we care for the most vulnerable among us, we are led to discern the human right to health care and wholeness. Therefore, we are called to act with compassion by sharing our abundant health care resources with everyone.
Vision ~ Affordable: Health care must contribute to the common good by being affordable for individuals, families and society as a whole. We believe that in the sacred act of creation we are endowed with the talents, wisdom and abundant resources necessary to meet the needs of one another, including the health care needs of all. Therefore, in our calling to be faithful stewards, we understand our responsibility to use our health care resources effectively, to administer them efficiently, and to distribute them with equity.
Vision ~ Accessible: All persons should have access to health services that provide necessary care and contribute to wellness. We believe humanity is sacred and that all persons should benefit from those actions which contribute to our health and wholeness. Therefore, we are called to act with justice and love, to ensure that all of us have access to the health care we need in order to live out the fullness of our potential both as individuals and as contributing members of our society. We must work together to identify and overcome all barriers to and disparities in such care.
Vision ~ Accountable: Our health care system must be accountable, offering a quality, equitable and sustainable means of keeping us healthy as individuals and as a community.
We believe that as spiritual and sacred vessels, we are responsible for the care of our bodies to the best of our ability and for the care of one another regardless of individual circumstances. Therefore, individuals, families, governments, businesses, and the faith community are called to work in partnership for a system that ensures fully-informed, timely, quality and safe care that treats body, mind and spirit.
-Bryan Bass-Riley
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Bryan Bass-Riley is Chair of the CPSP Standards Committee and can be contacted by clicking here.
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at January 25, 2010 9:56 AM
