What does it take to be a chaplain?
Public ministers vs. the chaplaincy
There is a difference between a minister or other religious leader and a trained chaplain, according to those in the profession.
"We talk about public ministry a lot the difference between chaplains and public ministry, [or] individuals in private ministry with churches, because they are basically tending to their flock, based on certain theological understandings," says David Johnson, DMin, BCC, assistant director for operations, Pastoral Care Department, Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, NC.
One of the challenges faced by the profession, he says, is that many health care administrators don't understand the differences and believe that any minister is qualified to serve as a chaplain, Johnson says. When the line between the chaplain's own religious or spiritual beliefs and the patient's specific needs are blurred, that is not a good thing to have happen from the standpoint of those in the profession, as the chaplain is there to serve the patient and alleviate his or her discomfort or anxiety. Sometimes, the patient adamantly refuses to discuss religion.
"I had a student one time who had an atheist as a patient, and the person said, 'I'd love to talk to you, but not if you're going to talk about religion,' and so they had a great conversation about some philosophical issues," Johnson says. "So, people, whether they're religious or philosophical or emotional, we have to be prepared to meet people at different levels of how they're experiencing their anxiety, because they may come out of their anxiety in different ways."
Board certification is the ideal
Board-certification is the ideal for chaplains, not only due to educational requirements, but other training and standards requirements, as well as a code of ethics all board-certified chaplains must follow, say Hospice Management Advisor sources. There also are continuing education requirements for board-certified chaplains.
One more requirement is ecclesiastical endorsement by whatever body of religion the chaplain follows. "For example, I'm a Lutheran pastor, so the Lutheran Church has to endorse me, or Catholic or Episcopal," says Vincent Guss, DMin, MDiv, chaplain of Falcons Landing Air Force Retired Officers Community, Potomac Falls, MD. "There are some religions that don't have those endorsement bodies, so then we provide some sort of ad hoc arrangement that can [endorse those chaplains], so there's accountability."
Association membership is diverse
To address diverse spiritual and nonspiritual needs, the APC membership now includes chaplains who are Sikhs, Buddhists, Hindu, Muslim, and Jewish. APC has its roots in the College of Chaplains, which was originally part of the American Protestant Health Care Association. "Very soon we saw, as we were becoming the premier group, that we were shortchanging ourselves and our own understanding of what chaplaincy was by limiting ourselves to Protestants and Christians," Guss recalls.
Guss says while the National Association of Catholic Chaplains and the National Jewish Chaplains still exist, they exist mainly for specifically religious issues and concerns.
Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City has partnered with the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care to bring Zen Buddhist chaplains into the hospital as a way of offering bedside meditation, interdenominational prayer, and other spiritual support to patients and staff members. The Zen Buddhist chaplains operate the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care to train health care professionals in contemplative approaches, which can help patients and caregivers deal with illness, disease, dying, and living.
The hospital said in a press release that while the "training is delivered from a Buddhist perspective, the care is accessible and tailored to people of all faiths and traditions."
The Rev. Koshin Paley Ellison, co-founder of the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care, says in a Beth Israel press release that "there are many patients who may benefit from a different type of spiritual counseling. Our guiding values are compassion, equanimity, courage, inquiry, and learning."
There is a difference between a minister or other religious leader and a trained chaplain, according to those in the profession.You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
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