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Hospital Chaplaincy |
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Pagan
Hospital or Hospice Pastoral Visitation
On
this page:
Please read
Pagan
Hospital/Hospice Groups for more advice on
hospital/hospice ministries.
Pastoral
Visitation
 There
are three major ways that Pagans might be involved in hospital/hospice
pastoral ministry:
a) as
Community
Clergy
– formally recognized ‘priesthood’ of a religious tradition,
authorized by a religious organization
b) as
Pastoral
Visitor for
a particular faith tradition – recommended (and usually
trained as well) by the local religious community
c) as
Hospital
Pastoral Volunteer
– often trained by the hospital chaplaincy (see section
on Pastoral Training Programs),
but requiring an official letter of recommendation from
their faith community. These
volunteers work for the chaplaincy (not their own faith
communities) and visit with any patient (of any faith) who
wishes spiritual support.
Religious
Designation Records
Some
hospitals do include ‘Pagan/Wiccan’ as a religious designation,
and where they don’t it is generally because no one has asked
or did so years ago when hospital chaplaincies were not aware
that Paganism is a legitimate religion.A
Pagan pastoral visitor can be instrumental in ensuring that
such a designation is added to hospital records.
However,
in the past patients were given hard-copy forms to fill out
with a space for religious affiliation – it was entirely their
choice what they put in that section or if they put anything.Now
these forms are done electronically by an admitting receptionist,
who is often unwilling to take the time to click into the
‘religious designation’ program – even people from more conventional
religions, who have specifically asked that their religion
be entered, have been told, "I don’t have time for that".
Also,
many Pagans aren’t prepared to have their faith known (they
often put down ‘other’) even if Wiccan/Pagan is on the hospital’s
list of religious designation.Few
would expect a hospital chaplain to be supportive of their
faith, and so wouldn’t request a Pagan pastoral visit – although
many hospital chaplaincies are becoming more truly multifaith
and open to minority religions.
Requests
for Visitation
Most
Pagans practice in small covens or circles, and only on rare
occasions would their members be in a hospital.In
most cases, pastoral visitation with Pagan patients can be
done during regular visiting hours – as a regular visitor
- and doesn’t require any special ‘pastoral status’ or permission.The
situations in which this would not be the case are
likely to be:
a) when
the patient is in an intensive care unit (ICU)
b) when
the patient has a crisis (that requires immediate spiritual
support) outside of regular visiting hours (which are generally
quite extensive), so most likely late at night, or
c) when
the patient doesn’t have a coven/circle (or is sent to a
non-local hospital), and requests pastoral visitation from
a member of their own faith.
Furthermore,
we have no common traditions equivalent to ‘last rites’ –
the most usual reason why ‘community clergy’ are called into
ICU wards or during other than the usual visiting hours.As
such, it is unlikely that a Pagan pastoral visitor would get
very many requests.
Dos
and don’ts re: Pagan Pastoral Visitation
A
hospital or hospice is a very specialized environment, and
there are many necessary restrictions on what kind of activities
are allowed (for any religious tradition).Many
of the elements of regular Pagan rituals would not be acceptable,
for medical and sanitation reasons – although somewhat less
restrictive if the patient is in a single room.All
tools and activities – beyond those that would generally be
in a patient’s room – need to be checked out with the chaplain
and the ward staff.
Hospitals
generally have rules about the number of visitors that can
be in any one room at a time – thus limiting the number of
circle members that can participate.Incense
or smudges may not be allowed because of triggering allergies
or breathing problems on the ward.Candles
may present a fire hazard, and in general are not allowed
in patients’ rooms.All
but the softest of chants and drumming would disturb other
patients – as would any dancing or other physical activities.Alcohol
is generally not allowed in hospitals, so a wine blessing
would probably need to use juice instead of actual wine.The
patient may not be able to digest bread/etc., for the ‘cake
blessing’: and it would be unfair to leave them out of this
part of the rite.And
it is important to remember that if the room is shared (as
is most often the case), the other patient may feel quite
uncomfortable, even distressed, at a Pagan ritual happening
in their space.In
general, it is best to stick to meditations, invocations/prayers,
soft chants, and very simple healing rituals (the fewer
the tools, the better) – and private pastoral counseling.
Present-Day
Crisis in the Hospital Chaplaincy System
As
our culture becomes more secular and with re-structuring and
cut-backs, hospital chaplaincies are often the first
to have their budgets cut and therefore their staff
has been reduced.That
means that most of the time the staff chaplains can only respond
to specific requests, and have no time to visit with the general
patient population in order to find out what kind of spiritual
support they might need - pastoral volunteers do some of this
work, but they can rarely ensure that everyone who would like
support gets it.Few
staff chaplains have time to check the religious designation
records (if they even exist).That,
combined with the above situation, means that it is increasingly
difficult for staff chaplains to identify the religion of
the patients, and then be able to suggest the appropriate
‘community clergy’ or pastoral visitors to contact to support
the patient.
Another
element is that there is growing percentage of patients who
are either fairly ‘generic’ in their faith (i.e., don’t belong
to any particular faith community, or even religion or denomination/tradition),
or are anti-religion.Many
of them are afraid that any contact with the hospital’s staff
chaplains or pastoral volunteers will lead to some form of
proselytizing or criticism.This
leads to a ‘no-win’ situation – a hospital visit usually happens
as the result of some form of ‘life threat’, which is the
time when people most need spiritual support.On
the other hand, in the present climate, patients are less
likely to ask for it or even be open to being approached.Obviously
the last thing a critically ill patient wants is to deal with
proselytizing, and perhaps Wiccan/Pagan patients most of all!
Staff chaplains are aware of this dynamic – and in their attempt
to not offend a patient may not discover what their
faith is or what pastoral support would be helpful.
Another
paradox here is that chaplaincy training has radically changed
in the past couple of decades.It
is much more focused on meeting the individual spiritual needs
of the patient (whatever faith they are) than any particular
religious dogma or position – that is, spiritual counseling
that is applicable to anyone, even those with no specific
religion or religious community or who are anti-religion.Furthermore,
staff chaplains and pastoral volunteers are trained to be
more familiar with ‘other faiths’ and to be sensitive to them.So,
there is a ridiculous situation in which what is available
through chaplaincy is healthier, more wholistic and non-dogmatic;
while at the same time there is less access to it for all
the above reasons.Also,
at the same time as the general population is much more aware
of how important (spiritual) counseling is to recovering from
an illness or operation, the hospital bureaucracies are making
it much more difficult for patients to get that support.
Therefore
it is important that as Pagans we recognize the overwhelming
situation that modern day hospital chaplains find themselves
in, and not assume that that a lack of requests for visitation
is the result of prejudice on their part.
Why Pagan Pastoral Ministry is Important
Much
as there are likely to be very few requests for visitation,
having someone available to do Pagan Hospital Ministry remains
important.We
are a very new religious community, and it is only now that
a significant percentage of our members are reaching the age
where a hospital/hospice stay becomes more likely.We
need to be prepared to deal with the suffering of our fellow
Pagans and attend to their spiritual needs, as well as make
that acceptable in a hospital/hospice environment.
Also,
in the long term, having a truly inter-faith chaplaincy and
committed ‘community clergy’ or ‘pastoral workers’ available
can make a great difference to the spiritual well-being
of all patients at this spiritually critical time in
their lives – counseling available (through spiritual communities,
if not the staff chaplains and pastoral volunteers due to
appropriateness or time), less fear of proselytizing (for
both people of minority faiths and those who have no
designated faith) and therefore openness to what is available,
and a greater willingness within the wider religious community
to recommend spiritual support from religions/groups other
than their own.
Since
neo-Paganism is a newly revived/devised and mostly unorganized
religion, few of us have had training or experience in dealing
with the pastoral-type needs of our own community – whether
formally or not.Therefore,
active involvement in institutional ministries can help us
to be more aware of the specific needs of our own people within
these institutions, AND build cooperative relationships with
the professionals who can provide the support that we cannot.Our
perspective on life and healing also is a valid addition to
the general spiritual community (which many other religions
are beginning to support in their own evolving traditions)
- we have much to offer.Finally,
as with prison ministry, our direct involvement with any form
of institutional ministry/chaplaincy only adds to the acceptance
and validity given to our faith.
If
you are interested in doing Hospital Pastoral work, please
contact
us
for an overview of the requirements, and/or how you may get
further training to qualify as a Pagan Hospital Clergy (see
also our website's page on Info
on Pastoral Training Programs).You
may be interested in reading about a project of our Hospital
Elder, who offers Bedside Singing via En~chanting
Beyond – as many of the pastoral support systems
can be offered through the medium of chant itself (the chants
used are generally not Pagan-specific; yet we find that people
from all religions tend to respond well to Pagan-ish chants
– as well as their own faith's hymns – when they are moving
through the major life-passages).
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