hospital chaplain

Stephen Faller’s series of wise reflections on being alive

I routinely saw patients who were racist, sexist, demanding, and cruel. They were also afraid, exhausted, in pain, and helpless.

Being a pastor is like jumping into a river. You have to let the current take you.

The documentary Chaplains raises a fundamental issue for Christian chaplaincy: what is its relationship to the church?

A few months ago I wrote about the difference between having two jobs and two vocations. A commenter wondered, "What if you really do have two callings?” I’ve been doing bivocational ministry in one way or another for the past seven years. Overall I have found having two vocations—I serve as a hospital chaplain in addition to being a Century editor—to be fruitful and fulfilling. But I have to confess that it isn’t easy.

Listening itself has a sacramental dimension. When a family gathers around a hospital bed, it becomes a sort of communion table.

Wendy Cadge asks, What happens to religion when hospitals, many of them founded by religious groups, are secularized or otherwise constrained to serve patients beyond their founding communities?