SPIRITUAL SELF-CARE FOR CHAPLAINS AND RELIGIOUS LEADERS
“Love in the time of coronavirus” is a play on the seminal novel by Colombian Nobel prize winning author, Gabriel García Márquez. I thought about switching the word “love” for “spiritual care,” but decided not to. After all, spiritual care is love. Spiritual care is grounded in love. Love is foundational. How could it not be?
In these uncertain and frightening times, spiritual care is more important than ever. To augment the tremendous efforts of the medical professionals who are at the frontline of this fight against the coronavirus–many who have already given their lives–spiritual care-providers are trying to do their part. Swiftly changing conditions, however, have affected how that could be done. Social distancing has challenged the work of chaplains and forced them to reckon with new modes of care.
In a recent article, Carrie Doehring, the author of the essential book for all chaplains, The Practice of Pastoral Care, addresses some pertinent questions that face chaplains during the coronavirus pandemic: “How do we care for others in our professional roles while protecting the lives of those most vulnerable? How do we offer spiritual care in preparing healthcare teams for making ethical decisions when there is absolute scarcity of medical resources? How do those on the frontlines of coronavirus spiritual care protect the lives of those most vulnerable in their own families?”
Dr. Doehring writes:
“Acute stress becomes moral stress when core values are compromised… Moral stress also impacts religious leaders, chaplains, and chaplain educators suddenly thrust into urgent professional demands of offering online spiritual care and chaplain education at a distance. They face moral stress of doing the best job they can in new modalities of care and education. Many are learning how to teach, lead communities of faith, and provide spiritual care online while juggling intense family demands of caring for children and elderly family member.”
Dr. Doehring goes on to offer practical and insightful suggestions, including this, which could not be emphasized enough:
It’s hard to do spiritual self-care and reflection by ourselves. It helps to find trusted others with whom to explore the particular ways we each experience stress. Seek out people who will respect your value and beliefs, and the spiritual practices that are uniquely meaningful to you. Test whether sharing your stress overwhelms others, making anxieties, fears, worries, and anger contagious. As much as possible, seek out spiritual care and offer care to each other that does no harm (Doehring, 2019). Exclusivist beliefs are insidious across faith traditions and communities. We are all tempted to become fundamentalists in urging upon others the spiritual practices, values, and beliefs that have ‘worked’ for us. Find trusted others who resist the temptation to save you through their testimonials of what is saving them spiritually when stress overwhelms them. Be wary of inclusive beliefs—that there is ‘one God’ or a common belief about suffering and hope at the heart of all religious traditions (Prothero, 2010). Insidious inclusivism, of which we all fall prey, must be set aside because it erodes trust that our unique spiritual orientations to suffering and hope will not be respected.
Dr. Doehring’s article is a must-read for all chaplaincy professionals, students, educators, and others in spiritual care. Even those who are not, but are mindful of community and connectivity should give it a gander.
Click here for the full article.