Christian pastoral care and multi-culturalism

David Pettett

In a recent post on the value of measuring outcomes of pastoral interventions in hospitals I asked the question about what is meant by ‘the spiritual needs of the patients’? What are ‘spiritual needs’? How are spiritual needs defined? When pastoral carers and healthcare professionals speak of ‘spiritual needs’, do they mean the same thing? Are we speaking the same language?

I suggested that we are not speaking the same language but that Christians who engage in pastoral care in public institutions never the less have a vital role to play. Ultimately the ‘outcomes’ of Christian pastoral care cannot be measured with any scientific accuracy. This is not to say that pastoral intervention has no ‘value’ or benefit. When patients are surveyed about how they feel after a pastoral intervention they generally report a positive outcome. These can sometimes be seen in shorter hospital stays, improved pain management and better cardiovascular outcomes.[1]

A survey conducted after a pastoral care intervention may record these measurable benefits but in fact Christian pastoral care brings a whole lot more. However, as the term ‘pastoral care’ itself is used more and more in a secular context, the distinctiveness of Christian pastoral care risks losing its unique focus and benefit. In another earlier post, I argued that a biblical understanding of the human condition, of who God is and of where the world is heading is the necessary basis for bringing real compassion and empowerment to suffering people in hard places. Pastoral ministry that relies only on psychological insights into the human condition and does not bring a biblical understanding is not pastoral ministry as Jesus brought it to those he encountered in their suffering and it is not the legacy Jesus left us.

My fear for pastoral ministry in the public square is that the unique insights into the human condition which a Christian understanding brings is at risk of following the secular agenda in an attempt to remain active and relevant in the public sphere. Yet if Christian pastoral carers lose the uniqueness of the Christian message in secular institutions, Christianity will lose its prophetic call to a world in need.

Pastoral care is not simply ‘intentional friendship’. In trying to work out how people from different faith backgrounds can work together in pastoral care David Oliphant claims to have developed the ‘philosophy’ of ‘intentional friendship’[2]. He offers this idea as the lowest common denominator by which people of different faiths and none can work alongside each other to bring ‘pastoral care’ to those who are suffering.

I must admit I do not understand why Christians see a need to lose their unique and prophetic voice in the face of multi culturalism and because they life in a multi faith community. Isn’t this the very context in which, to be faithful to our God and to be respectful of others, we must speak more of the uniqueness of Christ? If all our pastoral care is doing is achieving shorter hospital stays, better pain management, better cardiovascular outcomes, and respecting people of other faiths, then we fail as Christians in the world.

I am not advocating for disrespect of anyone of another faith. I am arguing for Christians to do better at working out how to be Christian in a multi-faith context. And I am arguing that this does not mean reaching an agreement on what we have in common and leaving the rest behind. What a grey world that would be. Multi-culturalism allows and celebrates our differences. It is the job of Christians to work out how we can best bring our unique message into a multi-faith, multi-cultural context in a way that respects both the demands of the government institutions in which chaplains minister and also respects people of other faiths and none who are created in the image of God.

To that end my future posts will explore how this can be done.

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[1] See for example, Duncan Blake. Clinician and Carer Both Help Suffering, in Australian Journal of Pastoral Care and Health Vol. 5, No. 1 March 2011. pp. 11-14.

[2] See Dr Oliphant’s thesis here: http://researchdirect.westernsydney.edu.au/islandora/object/uws%3A2377/datastream/PDF/view

Empathy, emotional clusters and the accurate identification of the functions of pastoral care.

by Rev. Stuart Adamson

In the first section of this three part series on blogging chaplains back in September 2016, I looked at the way integrating pastoral experience and ongoing reflection on scripture can enhance our pastoral practice, and how, with an encouragement to enjoy learning and play with ideas, teaching resources can be modified and enhanced.

In this second section, I look at empathic listening and my concept of what I call "emotional clusters". After explaining what I believe emotional clusters are, I will outline how I believe they can help chaplains more accurately identify the pastoral need in the person they are caring for.

It is an act of love and respect to patients, parishioners, people we might be caring for, even a friend, if we take the time to listen to their heart - to really listen to what is going on for them.

But empathic listening is no exercise in parroting - merely restating and obvious emotion in another.

I call effective empathic listening "exegeting hearts".

We are big on exegesis of scripture in the Anglican diocese of Sydney. And for good reason. We have a high view of scripture as the Word of God and its power to change hearts. But I wonder if we might not be more effective pastors if we were less ready to jump to conclusions, and more ready to listen to people's hearts. The mouth speaks of what the heart is full.

I spent some time with someone today who I was determined to listen to.

As I listened and reflected back his emotions to him I developed an appreciation of his whole emotional state.

He was utterly exhausted. He was torn between private and work responsibilities. He felt he couldn't go on any longer. That he was approaching burnout. But he was highly motivated by a sense of duty, a desire to do the right thing and to be seen to do the right thing to the extent that he was prepared to keep working to his ongoing detriment.

In my early teaching of the six functions of pastoral care (or eight, as they have become in my training sessions (see the previous instalment in this three part series)), I taught that sustaining is the relevant pastoral function when someone is feeling overwhelmed.

The concept of emotional clusters brings greater nuance to the chaplain’s in-the-moment assessment of the one they are caring for.

Exhaustion. Feeling like he had come to the end of his rope. Physical depletion and personal illness. These were the words and phrases that came up in our discussion.

Together they cause the word overwhelmed to spring to mind.

In addition, an intense feeling of wanting to shout out in frustration, to be at a loved one's side, and an agreement that he was wanting to clear the decks and be there for them, but felt he could not leave his post. Added into the mix was a self loathing and an anger.

Together these finely nuanced expressions of emotion combine to build a strong feeling of being trapped. The function? Liberation.

Care that was both sustaining and liberating was needed.

But those needs were arrived at after much listening, after a patient identification of nuanced emotions that together formed emotional clusters that suggested two of the pastoral functions.

We prayed. He determined to raise the matter then and there with his employer.

He needed to give himself permission to stop and take practical steps to ensure the gathering vortex of unhealthy levels of stress did not draw him down to ongoing illness and burnout.

Empathic listening led to the identification of emotional clusters. Those clusters suggested two functions of pastoral care which facilitated, under God, ministry that was both sustaining and liberating.

(Editor's note: Stuart has written a followup article to this one. Follow this link: http://bloggingchaplains.blogspot.com/2022/06/empathy-emotional-clusters-and-accurate.html )