Clinical Pastoral Education

There has been an increasing trend in the pastoral care movement to move away from chaplaincy and pastoral care in favor of promoting and providing "spiritual care." Many hospital departments have changed their names to reflect this shift in philosophy and practice. Spirituality circumvents religion and promotes chaplaincy as a generic practice. Religions are messy. They have rules, doctrines, beliefs, ethics---some of which are flawed to be sure. But religions usually stand for something. Spirituality is an amorphous thing, an oblong blur, with implications of cosmic connection, but with no price tag---no demands no dogmas, and no ethics. Not even a dogma demanding justice and mercy. The only perceptible doctrine promoted by the spirituality movement is that people should feel good about themselves. At its best the clinical pastoral movement teaches religious professionals to be available to everyone. It also teaches them to be critical of all religion---but dismissive ...

Feeling Felt – Challenges for Pastoral Care and Counselling The 13th Conference of the European Council for Pastoral Care and Counselling It all begins with a look. The paintings by the artist Maria Wolfram challenge the way we look at the world surrounding us. Those faces seem to look back at us, asking: What do you see when you look at me? Can you feel my reality, or are you looking right through me, perceiving only what you wish to see, receiving only what fits in your picture? Feeling felt – two simple words that capture the essence of empathic attunement, which is at the core of all encountering in pastoral care and counselling. How do we approach today’s evermore complex and challenging realities, whose faces do we recognize and encounter? And where do we find strength in our effort to accompany suffering individuals and communities under pressure? What is the essence of being a pastoral caregiver for our present time in the perspective of feeling felt? These...