Chaplaincy Innovation Lab

Thank you to our sponsors for this season's Field Guide series: the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation; Bayan Chicago; Candler School of Theology; Claremont School of Theology; Iliff School of Theology; Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York.  In this session we introduce participants to movement and community chaplaincy. What does it mean to provide spiritual care within a social justice movement? Or for members of a community experiencing crises? We are joined by:  

Hilary Allen, Project Consultant, Faith Matters 

Aly Benítez, Curriculum Consultant, Faith Matters 

Randy Meyers, Staff Chaplain, Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services

Sponsored by the Coalition to Transform Advanced Care - learn more at TheCTAC.org  

Palliative care is one of the most important growing areas of chaplaincy today. How is this field different from other types of spiritual care? And how are chaplains working to integrate palliative care into the whole spectrum of patient and family care? We talk also with several patients and family members who have been recipients of palliative care, offering a key perspective on this area of chaplaincy. We're joined by:  Jennifer Moore Ballentine, CSU Shiley Haynes Institute of Palliative Care Jamie Beachy, Naropa University Gina Dietzer, Nurse and Lung Cancer Survivor Allison Kestenbaum, UC San Diego Health Susan King, Oncology Nurse and Palliative Care Recipient

The Chaplaincy Innovation Lab and the  Fetzer Institute conclude the lecture series Race, Ethnicity, and the  Work of Spiritual Care. In this final session, Tahara Akmal and Chaz Howard offer reflections on their experiences as chaplains of color — how they came into this work, barriers and challenges they have faced, and advice for the future.

This webinar offers a series of reflections by Jewish chaplains serving  in a variety of settings. Our panel will discuss their work on spiritual  care in aging populations, approaches to end of life care, and serving  as a Jewish chaplain on a multidisciplinary team / in a non-majority  Jewish community. We are joined by Rabbis Lynn Liberman, BCC; Jessica  Shafrin, BCC; and Michelle Stern, BCC.

Among the growing diversity in spiritual care providers today is career diversity. Some chaplains combine spiritual care provision with other  work; others volunteer on a part-time basis; others pursue education while involved in other careers. In this session, we speak with 3 spiritual care providers who have successfully combined this with other work:

-Omari Jahi Aarons, Howard Thurman Fellow & MDiv Candidate, Boston University School of Theology  

-Rev. Bonnie-Jeanne Casey, Chaplain, Phillips Exeter Academy  

-Rev. Lindsay Popperson, Chaplain, Sherrill House

Modern society’s obsession with the outer aspects of humanity has  obscured the deeper, spiritual dimension of what makes us whole. This  results in personal and social fragmentation and the resulting lack of  respect for others and burnout in ourselves. In this session, a physician and chaplain will each give their perspectives on how to find and experience that transcendence. They will discuss what COVID has taught us about isolation and burnout and offer  up perspectives and practices for chaplains to help others transcend the burnout in this time of unusually intense separation from wholeness.

Join the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab and the Fetzer Institute as they continue the lecture series Race, Ethnicity, and the Work of Spiritual Care. In this second session, we will discuss the history of Black chaplaincy in the US, the results of an intensive interview project with chaplains of color, and the future of the field.

While the field of spiritual care in the US is better and better understand by Americans as time goes by, most American chaplains and researchers are unfamiliar with the state of spiritual care in global chaplaincy.

The Chaplaincy Innovation Lab and the International Center for Chinese Buddhist Culture and Education invite you to a panel discussion on the history and current state of global chaplaincy as seen by experts from several places outside the United States. This webinar will help chaplains in all sectors better understand the international aspect of chaplaincy and, as a result, better serve those not from the United States. We are joined by:

Venerable Guan Zhen, Co-Founder and General Secretary, International Centre of Chinese Buddhist Culture and Education

Wendy Cadge, Director, Chaplaincy Innovation Lab

Ray-Sheng Her, Deputy CEO, Tzu Chi Foundation

Dedong Wei, Professor of Philosophy and Director of the International Center for Buddhist Studies, Renmin University of China

Jue Xiao, Deputy Director, Volunteer Committee, Chinese Association for Life

Scarlett Tong Zuo, Volunteer, Beijing Ciyuan Center, Interpreter

This event is sponsored by The International Center of Chinese Buddhist Culture and Education, USA. ICCBCE was founded and organized by Venerable Master Chao Ding (超定長老), Venerable Master Chuan Yin (傳印長老), Venerable Master Ben Xing (本性和尚), Venerable Master Jing Hua (淨華長老尼), and Venerable Guan Zhen (振冠法師). The ICCBCE vision is to develop socially-engaged Buddhism, harmonize teachings of Theravada and Mahayana, and promote interfaith dialogues between East and West.

The community is run by the board, whose members live worldwide. Venerable Guan Zhen is the Secretary of ICCBCE and the US board representative. Within the ICCBCE is a sangha (community), an expression of Sangha/Buddhism.

Its membership consists of ordained monks and nuns, ordained laity (chaplains), and laypersons. It maintains a center. Day-to-day activities are run by the Abbot and president with the assistance of monastic members and lay volunteers.

One of the most significant components of modern spiritual care training is clinical pastoral education, or CPE. Join Su Yon Pak (Union Theological Seminary) and Mychal Springer (New York-Presbyterian Hospital), two of the nation's leading CPE experts, as they offer a comprehensive introduction to CPE, how students should think about beginning it, and what chaplains ultimately take from it.

The Field Guide series is intended to offer a basic introduction to the profession of chaplaincy, from education and training through to practice. Each session includes an in-depth conversation with spiritual care practitioners on topics of key importance to those considering careers in chaplaincy; there are also opportunities for small-group discussion afterward (not recorded).

For this session, we are joined by Su Yon Pak (Union Theological Seminary) and Mychal Springer (New York-Presbyterian Hospital).