A new look at spirituality and cancer
I had thought of chaplains as ministers of war, sent to hear final confessions and administer a fallen soldier’s last rights. But as I learned, and as many already know, off the battlefield and beyond the movies, the role that a chaplain can play in helping people who are sick or dying—and their loved ones—is vastly more expansive, a change increasingly evident in cancer care.
Halfway through my reporting, my partner began providing support for a cousin who had been in the hospital for more than a week, bottoming out of his addiction and battling sepsis, which had developed following surgery for his Crohn’s disease. I suggested that he have the nurse contact a chaplain. Within a half hour, the chaplain on call that day was by his side.
Like our cousin, the chaplain was Jewish. Like him, she had Crohn’s disease. And, like him, she was familiar with addiction; she had been clean and sober for decades. I was sitting at my desk when my partner relayed the series of coincidences. The only thing my non-religious self could think to say was: “God works in mysterious ways.”
A New Look at Spirituality
Katherine Piderman has a voice that encourages conversation. It is gentle and gracious, receptive and reassuring. After listening to Piderman talk, your reaction to learning that she has spent the past 18 years providing bedside ministry as a staff chaplain at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., is likely to be “of course.”
As you might expect, Piderman is often called upon to pray with cancer patients and their family members or perform religious rituals. But she also spends time walking the hospital’s halls and visiting outpatient clinics, looking for those she might be able to assist.
There is nothing novel about clergy members providing solace. What is new is the growing
recognition of the need to acknowledge and address cancer patients’ spiritual needs. Research on spirituality in cancer, especially at the end of life, is burgeoning. (Type “spirituality and cancer” into PubMed, an online database of medical journals, and you’ll find more than 1,000 research articles.) A 2010 survey of U.S. medical school deans found that 90 percent of the respondents’ programs included classes that addressed the spiritual needs of patients. And at some cancer centers, chaplains are considered part of the treatment team, providing spiritual care to patients and caregivers of all cultures and faiths.
http://www.cancertodaymag.org/Summer2014/Pages/Defining-Spirituality-Cancer-Patients.aspx