In the Land of Unlikeness

A Reflection On the Risky Adventure of Being a Chaplain

Authors

  • Kevin Franz Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/hscc.v1i1.75

Keywords:

community chaplaincy, hospitality, interpathy, reflective practice, therapeutic relationship

Abstract

The work of chaplaincy within mental healthcare brings an invitation to enter a “world of unlikeness”, to set out deliberately to see and know the world through the experience of the other. If we respond to the invitation, cultivating an interpathic approach as the guiding model of our work, we are led to the margins, to places of anxiety and puzzlement. They can also be places of adventure where we discover both friendship and fresh ways of being ourselves. This reflection suggests that the hospitality we receive, both from individuals and within communities, can renew us as practitioners, as human beings and as people of faith.

Author Biography

  • Kevin Franz, Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board

    Revd. Dr Kevin Franz is Head of Mental Healthcare Chaplaincy for the Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board, Scotland.

References

Auden, W. H. (1974) Collected Longer Poems 3rd edition. London: Faber and Faber.

Bryden, C. (2005) Dancing with Dementia. London: Jessica Kingsley.

De Waal, E. (2009) Seeking Life: the Baptismal Invitation of the Rule of St Benedict. London: Canterbury Press.

Kelly, E. (2012) Personhood and Presence: Self as a Resource for Spiritual and Pastoral Care. London: T.&T. Clark International.

Koyama, K. (1998) Third Meditation on “Rejoice in Hope”, World Council of Churches Assembly, Harare, 1998. World Council of Churches, Geneva. Available at: www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/documents/assembly/harare-1998/together-on-the-way-official-report- of-the-eighth-assembly

McCann, J. (trans) (1970) The Rule of St Benedict. London: Sheed & Ward Ltd.

Stern. (2007) “Das tragische Leben und Sterben des Ulrich Muehe”. Available at: www.stern.de/magazin/heft/magazin-das-tragische-leben-und-sterben-des-ulrich-muehe

Swinton, J. (2001) Spirituality and Mental Health Care. London: Jessica Kingsley.

Thomas, R. (2006) Passing from Self to God: a Cistercian Retreat. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications.

Published

2013-09-25

How to Cite

Franz, K. (2013). In the Land of Unlikeness: A Reflection On the Risky Adventure of Being a Chaplain. Health and Social Care Chaplaincy, 1(1), 75-82. https://doi.org/10.1558/hscc.v1i1.75

Most read articles by the same author(s)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 > >>