Earlier today I completed my 9-month hospital chaplaincy (a three-unit CPE residency). All ELCA seminarians are required to complete one unit of Clinical Pastoral Education, usually in a hospital setting as a chaplain, and usually over 12 weeks during the summer. My experience was just like that standard summer experience – only longer and, becauseContinue reading “Initial reflections on 9 months of chaplaincy”
Category Archives: Clinical Pastoral Education
Blog Interrupted
I haven’t been posting much, and will likely not post for several more days. Several reasons: My computer is acting up. My email and blogging routine usually takes place at my dining room table. But with my computer on the fritz I must banish myself to the second floor to an old desktop computer ifContinue reading “Blog Interrupted”
Whistling with Elmo
My nine months as a Resident Chaplain end on Thursday, May 31. Over this time I have learned to pick up on cues, to be sensitive to signals spoken and unspoken, as I attempt to care for a patient or family member. This evening, I noticed a cue of my own. I am on myContinue reading “Whistling with Elmo”
Authenticity & Pastoral Identity
Over the past nine months one of the keywords in my CPE Residency has been "authenticity." We have sought what it means to be "real" and "authentic" in the practice of chaplaincy. I got appropriately grilled when my peers and supervisors sensed a high dose of phoniness in a patient encounter that I presented inContinue reading “Authenticity & Pastoral Identity”
Baptism Without a Faith Community?
In the hospital chaplains are occasionally asked to baptize babies, particularly those who are very sick or deceased (an issue for another blog post). Recently, however, I was asked to baptize an adult. He is not in immediate danger of death but rather is a long-term patient on a closed psychiatric ward. In his mid-50s,Continue reading “Baptism Without a Faith Community?”
