Category: Autumn/Winter 2020

The Man in the Tree

A psychiatric chaplain dwells in the silences that follow difficult questions, responding to Chris Berlin’s “A Jewel in the Lotus.” By Duncan Gasson-Gardner

‘Chaplain, Can You Do an Exorcism?’

To accompany people struggling with command auditory hallucinations, the author uses a metaphorical approach and works within each patient’s own religious framework. By Jeremy D. Sher

Chanting through the Spring Surge

An interview with Sarah Byrne-Martelli, a chaplain at Massachusetts General Hospital, on the quiet camaraderie and unnamed grief among hospital staff during the pandemic. By Wendy McDowell

Prayer

Poetry by Diane Mehta

Theater as Chaplaincy for the LGBTQ+ Community

Theater has been a spiritual home for many LGBTQ+ folks, providing shared rituals and stories, a sense of being part of something greater than oneself, and mutual care and support. By J. Sylvan

A Minister Cultivates Abiding

The current pandemic provides a context to learn what it means to bear witness while impotent to reverse human suffering. By Emily Click

Blessed Are the Caregivers

The authors in this issue are chaplains, faith leaders, and professors. In these roles, they lament inequities, cry out for change, and demonstrate how to “treat the people’s needs as holy.” By Wendy McDowell

Let My People Go

Mass incarceration is Jim Crow’s most obvious descendent. Faith communities must focus on the collective work of dismantling this catastrophic system. By Raphael G. Warnock

Doing by Not-Knowing

A hospital chaplain reflects on the wonder and intimacy of not-knowing, responding to Chris Berlin’s “A Jewel in the Lotus.” By Jill R. Gaulding

Can a Buddhist Monk Become a Chaplain?

A Buddhist monastic reflects on his chaplaincy training through the lens of Theravada Buddhism, responding to Chris Berlin’s “A Jewel in the Lotus.” By Bhante Kusala

Chaplaincy as ‘Tragic Improv’

Erica Rose Long describes the honest conversations about race taking place at Massachusetts General Hospital and discusses the unique challenges and joys of chaplaincy. By Wendy McDowell

Waiting for Queer Theology

Queer Theology: Beyond Apologetics, by Linn Marie Tonstad, awaits a theology that moves beyond the narrow genres allotted to it. By Mark D. Jordan

A Jewel in the Lotus

The Buddha’s life, teachings, and response to human suffering inform practices of spiritual care in the hospital, and also in the classroom. By Chris Berlin

Plague Wisdom

Learning from queer elders who cared for the dying through the horrors of the AIDS crisis. By Cody Hooks

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