A Hospital Chaplain at the Crossroads of Humanity - Softcover

Alberts Ph.D., Rev. William E.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1470092433 ISBN 13: 9781470092436

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2012

Synopsis

Book Description A Hospital Chaplain at the Crossroads of Humanity tells the stories of patients who represent the diversity of divinity and the divinity of diversity-- and the commonality of humanity. Patients who reveal a hospital is actually a global neighborhood that calls for a chaplain to embrace diversity of belief—“without exception.” Chaplains without theological blinders. Thus pastoral/spiritual care begins with the humanness that prepares a chaplain to enter into and honor this global neighborhood. The inward journey where one becomes self-aware, and is in touch with and accepting of oneself. Such self-awareness prepares one to understand and accept patients and their loved ones as themselves, and to experience their reality not interpret it. Chaplains have to know where we-- and our god-- are coming from in order to know where patients and their families—and their god—are at. Pastoral/spiritual care, therefore, is not about the chaplain but about the patient. It is about the chaplain in terms of his or her awareness that it is about the patient. Self-awareness is key-- whether one is a chaplain or another kind of caregiver or a concerned citizen. Chaplaincy is about empowering patients and their families not imposing any belief or value system on them. It is about empathy not evangelism. This emphasis on the patient is not to minimize the identity and faith of the chaplain. Rather, it is to stress the pastoral/spiritual care qualities of self-awareness and inner emotional security that enable the chaplain to allow patients and their loved ones to be who they are. The patients’ stories reveal their commonality as well as their diversity. Illness confronts all people with their mortality and hence their vulnerability, their humanness—their oneness and connectedness with each other. In a hospital there is the pronounced human sharing of struggles with life and death, hope and fear, pain and anguish, love and anger, joy and sorrow. And it is these very struggles that bring out the tremendous wisdom patients and their families possess. The role of pastoral/spiritual care is to affirm these common human struggles and the wisdom they elicit by giving them air and reverence. A hospital is a global neighborhood that brings into sharp focus the humanness everyone shares: a precious insight, the embracing of which facilitates competent patient care by all staff, and, likewise, the understanding that makes possible truly democratic and just relationships between people and nations. Patients’ come together at the hospital’s exceptional crossroads of humanity and remind us of what our global neighborhood looks and feels and is like—like everyone of us.

About this title

About the Author

Rev. William E. Alberts, Ph.D. was a hospital chaplain at Boston Medical Center from December 1992 to July 2011. He is a diplomate in the College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy (CPSP), and both a Unitarian Universalist and United Methodist minister. Combining the pastoral and prophetic, he has written numerous research reports, essays and articles on racism, war, politics, religion and pastoral care. His articles have appeared in newspapers, magazines and journals, and more recently in Pastoral Report (website of CPSP) and in Counterpunch (called “America’s Best Political Newsletter” by Out of Bounds magazine). He is married, and the father of five children, six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. His email address is wm.alberts@gmail.com.

Review

"If you are a hospital chaplain . . . or a supervisor of Clinical Pastoral Education/Training . . . get a copy of this book post haste to the CEO, the Chief Medical Officer, the Chief Nursing Officer, and the very important director of Human Resources.  If you're a supervisor of CPE, make sure your trainees see this book." Brian H. Childs, Ph.D., Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling Book Review Editor. bchilds@shorehealth.org.  Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling, Vol. 67. No. 1 (2013)

"Alberts, who was a chaplain at Boston Medical Center for nearly twenty years . . . demonstrates what top-notch pastoral care looks like, feels like, maybe even smells like.  . . . The 54 tightly written . . . . encounters . . . that he describes are quotidian making them profound, which is what I hope hospital administrators and CPE trainees will grasp."
Brian H. Childs, Ph.D., Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling Book Review Editor. bchilds@shorehealth.org.  Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling, Vol. 67. No. 1 (2013)

Edition details

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1470092433
• ISBN 13: 9781470092436
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 140