Rev. Dunbar-Perkins Diversity of the Caregivers

Rev. Dunbar-Perkins Diversity of the Caregivers

Chaplaincy

In terms of diversity, the, one of the challenges also is not just the diversity of the patients but the diversity of the caregivers, the chaplains. And I think in the twenty-first century this is another shift that we're looking at, we're having more, hopefully, we're having more chaplains of color and of different religious traditions, not just the Christians. And how that affects the care of the patients, how we make sure that they are trained and oriented to the same sensibilities around visiting the patients, meeting them where they're at and walking the journeys with them and opening up the spaces, but also being rooted in your own theology. And not getting that mixed up with my theology trumps theirs, but rather your theology roots you and holds you there. And that's going to be the new challenge for us as we train more chaplains is to make sure that happens. I don't want to see a future where, 'Okay you’re the Jewish chaplain so you only see the Jewish patients,' because this particular Jewish person may have so many other gifts to give other people. You know, I could be relegated to just the African American patients, yeah, well, I'd rather be able to see the breadth of the people here. So that's one of the things that I'm really looking towards is having more chaplains of more traditions and really making this a spiritual journey. Who knows, we may be just like, I think it's Harvard that has a humanist chaplain and I'm still having difficulty embracing it, but my mind and my heart says that's the way to go. It's going to redefine chaplaincies in so many different ways but it's still talking about the journey of the spirit, the soul, or the psyche, whatever word you want to put on it.

Kevin Dowling

Religion Department (Carleton College)

2013

Sound

.mp3 (audio)

C_RevDunbarPerkinsDiversity.mp3

Minneapolis, MN