Showing posts with label chaplaincy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chaplaincy. Show all posts

Thursday, April 16, 2020

Chaplains and Parish Clergy: Covid-19 has Just Declared Your Ministry Non-Essential

On Patheos-

Well, strictly speaking, Covid-19 was the presenting issue.  Your role was changed by something called “Hospital Incident Command.”

Hospital Incident Command

HIC is a “standardized approach to managing complex incidents” that was developed in the 1970s in California to give hospitals “a framework on which to build a response quickly and scale it” to fit the demands made on hospitals by large scale emergencies, including the wildland fires in California that originally prompted its development.  After the 9/11, those protocols were folded into the federal government National Incident Management System (NIMS) and became standardized across the country.

HIC consists of five elements designed to help hospitals respond effectively in emergencies:

More here-

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/whatgodwantsforyourlife/2020/04/chaplains-and-parish-clergy-covid-19-has-just-declared-your-ministry-non-essential/?fbclid=IwAR1m_w8o96vPPCLKEJTEj2a9WWywa-xfieSrcwVVGiTTpgzb2ur-7HCzels

Saturday, November 30, 2019

As Americans become less religious, the role of chaplains may grow

From The Washington Post-

The Rev. Donna Mote regularly accompanies military personnel escorting the caskets of fallen service members through Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, where she serves as a chaplain at the busiest airport in the world.

Mote is the first person to greet the escorts once they step off the plane. She stands shoulder to shoulder with them while Delta Honor Guard members march with flags of the five military branches. She stays with them through their layover at the airport. She’s there for support. In many cases, the escorts are grieving because they knew the deceased.

When it’s time to go, Mote helps with check-in at the departure gate, walks down the boarding ramp, and once the remains have been confirmed, she heads up the airplane stairs with the escorts to bid them farewell.

More here-




Saturday, May 6, 2017

A Pastor and the loss of his child.

From Empty Arms-

Everyone knows there are certain things you just don’t say when a baby dies. Especially as the chaplain. Silence is preferable to easy answers or saying ‘something.’ I’m pretty sure every chaplaincy department drills that into you on the first day. And yet early that morning, the chaplain that met us apparently didn’t get the memo.

“Well,” she said, “Though we can’t say how, we know that this is a part of God’s plan.”

Normally, when a chaplain utters such a simplistic and insensitive platitude, those on the receiving end rip them apart. And yet, seeing her discomfort, the deer in the headlights look in her eyes, her complete inability to do or say anything else, Carolyn and I could only feel sorry for her. This chaplain was completely overwhelmed and didn’t know what to do. And I’m almost certain if I had been in her shoes during my first year of seminary, I wouldn’t have done any better. Ideally, I would have just kept quiet. But I don’t know.


More here-

http://www.emptyarmsbereavement.org/blog/2017/5/1/a-pastor-and-the-loss-of-his-child

Monday, November 28, 2016

BU’s New Episcopal Chaplain Seeks Postelection Healing

From Boston-

“The child of God in me sees the child of God in you. And that goes across whoever you voted for.”

In the wake of the most divisive presidential election in memory, perhaps only a person of the cloth could spot the divine. But the Rev. Karen Coleman, BU’s newly appointed Episcopal chaplain, starts her new post with hopes of helping the campus deal with any lingering fallout from the radioactive political season.

“How do we heal after what we just went through in the election year?” asks Coleman, who took the half-time chaplaincy last month, succeeding the Rev. Cameron Partridge. The question arose for her, she says, when she noticed people unfriending their Trump-supporting Facebook friends.

“I didn’t unfriend all my Republican friends.…I stayed friends with them, because I really wanted to know what they were thinking,” Coleman says. “I really wanted to hear from other people who didn’t think, for a variety of reasons, the way I did.” She did unfriend one person, she says, who “posted something that was LGBTQI bashing.…I’m an African American. I am well aware of people in my community who are not LGBTQI-friendly. But respectful—that’s all I ask.


More here-

https://www.bu.edu/today/2016/bus-new-episcopal-chaplain-rev-karen-coleman/

Monday, May 30, 2016

What happens when the military chaplain is shaken by war

From The Washington Post-

The pre-war Pastor Matthew Williams had gone to seminary, was ordained and thought he understood why people suffer. “God allows suffering because this world is temporary,” is how he would have put it.

Then came two deployments as an Army chaplain, one to Afghanistan and one to Iraq. Williams spent a year in an Afghanistan morgue unzipping body bags and “seeing your friends’ faces all blown apart.” He watched as most of the marriages he officiated for fellow soldiers fell apart. He felt the terror of being the only soldier who wasn’t armed when the mortars dropped and bullets flew.

This Memorial Day weekend, Williams is no longer an active-duty military chaplain nor a United Church of Christ minister. He is a guitar player on disability whose outlook on God, religion and suffering was transformed by post-traumatic stress.


More here-

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/what-happens-when-the-military-chaplain-is-shaken-by-war/2016/05/29/4dd27dc8-237f-11e6-8690-f14ca9de2972_story.html

Friday, May 8, 2015

Does prayer have the power to heal?

From USA Today-

Ruth Link, 92, lies in a hospital bed clutching the hand of longtime chaplain Jim Ivey as he kneels beside her in prayer.

Calling on the name of the Lord Jesus, Ivey prays that Link, who has been plagued with swelling from a kidney problem, will be able to go home as quickly as possible.

"I love praying for people because I believe that prayer works," said Ivey, who has been ministering to Link for more than a week. "Any time I can spend praying or talking or just comforting, that's a wonderful thing."

More than 60 years after the establishment of an annual National Day of Prayer in the United States, prayer remains an important source of solace and strength for some people who are going through crises, such as sickness.


More here-

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/05/07/power-of-prayer/70943182/

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

An Army Chaplain, First Tested By War, Finds His Faith Renewed

From Texas-

David Peters' life was supposed to be one continuous arc of piety and service.

But for the U.S. Army chaplain, it's ended up a more circuitous route. Peters lost the very faith he was supposed to embody for his soldiers — but has also found his way back.

Peters grew up in a fundamentalist evangelical church in Pennsylvania, served as youth minister and then went to war in Baghdad as a chaplain in the U.S. Army in 2005.

At the age of 30, he was serving as a chaplain for the 62nd Engineer Combat Battalion, a unit that built guard towers and repaired roads. "So they were operating all around Baghdad, at night, in the streets, in the neighborhoods — and it really exposed [them] to an incredible amount of danger," he says.


More here-

http://ksmu.org/post/army-chaplain-first-tested-war-finds-his-faith-renewed

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Clergy blocked from helping Boston bomb victims

From Oregon-

The heart-wrenching photographs taken in the moments after the Boston Marathon bombings show the blue-and-yellow jackets of volunteers, police officers, fire fighters, emergency medical technicians, even a three-foot-high blue M&M. Conspicuously absent are any clerical collars or images of pastoral care.

This was not for lack of proximity. Close to the bombing site are Trinity Episcopal Church, Old South Church and St. Clement Eucharistic Shrine, all on Boylston Street. When the priests at St. Clement’s, three blocks away, heard the explosions, they gathered sacramental oils and hurried to the scene in hopes of anointing the injured and, if necessary, administering last rites, the final of seven Catholic sacraments. But the priests, who belong to the order Oblates of the Virgin Mary, weren’t allowed at the scene.

The Rev. John Wykes, director of the St. Francis Chapel at Boston’s soaring Prudential Center, and the Rev. Tom Carzon, rector of Our Lady of Grace Seminary, were among the priests who were turned away right after the bombings. It was jarring for Father Wykes, who, as a hospital chaplain in Illinois a decade ago, was never denied access to crime or accident scenes.

“I was allowed to go anywhere. In Boston, I don’t have that access,” he says.


More here-


http://oregonfaithreport.com/2013/04/clergy-blocked-from-helping-boston-bomb-victims/

Monday, September 3, 2012

In the Spirit: Did priest’s work at ground zero cost him life?


From Wisconsin-

In the weeks and months following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, dozens of clergy members attached to federal agencies rotated through the World Trade Center, praying over the pulverized remains of victims and providing spiritual support to rescue workers.

One of those clergy members was the Rev. Thomas Winslow, an Episcopal priest from Pewaukee and chaplain for the Wisconsin FBI. The week he spent there, in November 2001, would define his final decade. It gave him a deep sense of pride in his country and its people, but it also possibly killed him.

Winslow died Aug. 23 at UW Hospital at age 68. His death, of acute respiratory distress, now becomes another murky statistic in the ongoing debate over health problems suffered by so many of the people involved in the post-9/11 cleanup.

Winslow was convinced that the toxic air he breathed at ground zero triggered serious sinus and bronchial problems, then pneumonia, gastric reflux disease and, ultimately, lung failure.

Read more:

http://host.madison.com/lifestyles/faith-and-values/religion/in-the-spirit-did-priest-s-work-at-ground-zero/article_8c6030ae-f3a8-11e1-bfb9-0019bb2963f4.html#ixzz25PE0QcQt

Monday, February 27, 2012

Pastor proud to serve both the military and the church


From Florida-

When the first strains of the closing hymn started, Holy Cross Episcopal Church pastor the Rev. Jeffrey A. Jencks was still wearing his purple cassock, a symbol of his priesthood.

By the time "Amazing Grace" finished, Jencks was standing near the church altar in full Army uniform, his military awards dripping from his uniform.

For years, Jencks had been a soldier and a priest, moving between disparate worlds. No more.

About 200 people stayed after Sunday's service at Holy Cross to honor Jencks for his military service. And congregation members were honored for sharing their spiritual leader with the Army. Jencks retired in January after a 21-year military career that included two tours in Iraq. His Army affiliations include service with the Rhode Island National Guard, the Army Reserve and active-duty Army.

More here-

http://www.pnj.com/article/20120227/NEWS12/202270306/Pastor-proud-serve-both-military-church?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE%7Cs

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Prayer's Effect Can Bounce Back


From Florida-

A few years ago, I was making my daily rounds as a chaplain in a Sacramento hospital when I met an alert, and very friendly, octogenarian.

His present situation wasn't serious, but he was nearing 90 years old, so the likelihood of a "heavenly discharge" was becoming more likely with each passing year. With a balding head and a small frame, he had a Gandhi look about him and maybe even a touch of Gandhi's spirit.

At the end of our visit, I offered the aging Episcopal a prayer for himself and his family. After my prayer, he offered me something that I've never forgotten.

"Does anyone ever offer to pray for you, chaplain?" His question, rare for a patient, told me he was looking outside himself at a time when most patients look, understandably so, inside themselves.

"Well, uh ..." I stumbled, embarrassed that his attention was on my needs, "Occasionally."

"But have you ever had a patient pray for you?" he asked specifically.

"I guess not," I told him in a tone that may have implied that I don't need prayer.

"Then it's about time, don't you think?" he declared with a wink in his voice.

More here-

http://www.theledger.com/article/20120219/COLUMNISTS/120219243?Title=Prayer-s-Effect-Can-Bounce-Back-

Sunday, February 12, 2012

As police chaplains, Palm Beach clergy available to offer comfort, consolation 24/7


From Florida-

A Palm Beach police officer was on his way to work one night when a man jumped in front of his car on Interstate 95.

It was the officer’s personal car, so it was just coincidence that the man jumped in front of a car driven by a police officer.

As the officer stopped to make sure aid was on the way, he also called the Palm Beach police station to let the duty captain know what had happened.

When the duty captain got to the scene, he called back to the station to ask if a Catholic priest was available to talk to the officer, who was distraught.

On the other end of the telephone was then-Sgt. Fred Hess.

“The officer was Catholic and wanted a priest to provide consolation,” Hess said. “He knew it wasn’t his fault, but was still going through the ‘what ifs.’”

The Florida Highway Patrol determined it was the man’s intent to commit suicide; he died from his injuries, Hess said.

More here-

http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/as-police-chaplains-palm-beach-clergy-available-to-2170103.html

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Priest Recalls the First Days After Flight 93 Crash


From The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette-

On the sunny morning of Sept. 12 , 2001, a Catholic priest and FBI chaplain from Pittsburgh stood on an overlook where a command post had been established above the Flight 93 crash site, said the prayers for burial and consecration and cast holy water toward the crater.

"By the Lord's own three days in the tomb he hallowed the graves of all who believe in him and made the grave a sign of hope and a promise of the resurrection, even as it claims our mortal bodies," the Rev. Joseph McCaffrey prayed at the first official consecration of the Sacred Ground where the Flight 93 National Memorial was dedicated Saturday.

"We pray that all who lost their lives here may live forever in the mercy of God."

Father McCaffrey, who became a law enforcement liaison to the Flight 93 families of the 40 passengers and crew who lost their lives, returned for the dedication in Somerset County. He spent hours stuck in traffic and wasn't able to speak with them prior to the ceremony. But he had a sense that his ministry at the site had come full circle, even as he worried that the nation wasn't practicing the lessons of unity and moral courage that the passengers and crew gave their lives to demonstrate.

Read more:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11254/1173883-84.stm#ixzz1XdjSBTN4

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

County hospital's first staff chaplain starts work


From Chicago-

Standing before an altar set with a silver cup of wine and bread invoking the Holy Spirit, the Rev. Carol Reese celebrated Mass for the first time Sunday before her longtime congregation at All Saints Episcopal Church in the Ravenswood neighborhood.

But the newly minted priest chose to be ordained among the people she intends to serve — the patients of Stroger Hospital, the Cook County hospital that serves the poor and uninsured.

"I really feel like, and believe, the hospital where I work is where I'm called to be," Reese said. "That's my parish."

This week, Reese will walk into Stroger ready to serve the spiritual needs of those suffering from traumatic injuries. Many hospitals, including those with religious affiliations, have paid chaplains on staff. Reese is the first one in Stroger's history.

More here-

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/religion/ct-met-stroger-chaplain-ordination-20101205,0,5829320.story

Thursday, July 1, 2010

'If you want spiritual help, die only between nine and five'


From The Irish Times-

LONDON LETTER: Chaplains fear patients of faith could go to their deaths alone because of hospital cutbacks, writes MARK HENNESSY

EVERY DAY, Carol English, who works with the College of Health Care Chaplains in London, receives calls from worried chaplains attached to English hospital who fear that accelerating National Health Service cutbacks will see them being made redundant, leaving patients of religious faith facing operations or death without the opportunity of spiritual comfort.

Some have already been let go by the Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in London and the Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, while others have had their hours cut dramatically.

The chaplains, who are mostly drawn from the Anglican, Catholic, or other Christian faiths, are “a soft target”, said English, for NHS managers trying to save money, even though the savings made are trifling.

The consequences, however, are not. Under the strict rules that govern the NHS, chaplains fulfil duties that cannot be easily handled by local parish-based priests and clerics. “Already, the cutbacks in the out-of-hours services mean that you should not die out of hours if you want spiritual help. Die only between nine and five,” English said.

More here-

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2010/0701/1224273706664.html