The Community of Hope Volunteer Lay Chaplains

Supported by St. Luke’s Episcopal health Charities and the Episcopal Diocese of Texas

New Class of Lay Chaplains Commissioned:

Fourteen candidates successfully completed 13 weeks of training and were commissioned Community of Hope Lay Chaplains on May 1, at St. Luke the Physician Chapel, William Temple Episcopal Center. They are, from left seated, Leslie A. Burgess, Kay Taylor Burnett, COH coordinator and William Temple Director The Rev. Dr. Helen Appelberg, Jo. L. Soske, Charlene Lutz, Martha Byington, Ira Newell, Sandra Linton, standing, Lance Anaya, Lela Johnson, Mary Jo Osgood, Matthew Coulson and Mike Mantell. Not pictured are Priscilla Gourley and Matthew Stanford. Lay Chaplains will provide ministry in their local parishes, at UTMB Oncology and Radiation Oncology, Edgewater Retirement Community, Hospice Care Team, Inc., Seafarers Center, Tideway, Jesse Tree, and St. Vincent’s House. Several of the lay chaplains and facilitators are establishing a grief support group which will be announced in the fall.

Upcoming Lay Chaplain Events...

Lay Chaplains Training

Fourteen Community of Hope Lay Chaplain Trainees will be commissioned on May 1, 2008. The Rev. Dr. Helen Appelberg, officiates. Serving as co-facilitators of the training with Rev. Dr. Appelberg this past year were Joy Gallaway, Tom Shehan, and June Holly.

With this step, lay chaplains join hands and hearts with thousands of people from coast to coast who are learning to listen to God, co-laborers with Christ, and people in need.

Lay Chaplain Classes are held yearly at the Center. A new Lay Chaplain’s Training Class will begin in early January 2009.

This past year our Community of Hope Lay Chaplains visited with 4,892 patients and family members, and put in 1,353 volunteer hours of service.

The Lay Chaplain’s role is not always an easy one, but it can be most rewarding. When making hospital visits, waiting rooms are often full of mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters who are dealing with the terrifying reality of cancer or other life-threatening illnesses. Lay chaplains are trained to deal with much of what these people are experiencing. Often they are just required to listen, sometimes they are asked to pray with a family or patient, and sometimes the only thing needed is a warm blanket or a smile.

The Lay Chaplain's Role

As lay chaplains, members of the Community of Hope extend caring to those in need, and provide spiritual nourishment and encouragement during times of stress, change, and crisis.

Through compassionate, empathetic listening, lay chaplains journey with those experiencing illness and recovery, helping them strengthen their faith and supporting them as they search for God’s mercy grace, love, and power.

Commissioned lay chaplains ministry which began in Galveston in 1998 with visits to patients in the UTMB oncology Clinic, Radiation Oncology Clinic, ICU and St. Vincent’s Episcopal House Free Clinic, has recently grown to encompass many other needs in the Galveston Community, including Edgewater Community for Seniors, Gulf Health Center, Hospice Care, Jesse Tree, Libbie’s Place, the Seafarers Center, The Luke Society, and Sunshine Center.

A Time for Training

Community of Hope training classes are offered at least once a year in a series of evening classes. This 36-hour training brings clergy, chaplains, counselors, mental health professionals, and others from disciplines inside and outside the medical center to contribute their expertise and serve as faculty for the training program.

Participants are given the opportunity to practice supportive techniques for helping others work through personal issues and reach their own spiritual answers.

Community of Hope Curriculum

Theology of Pastoral Care – Characteristics, goals and functions of pastoral care ministry, and identification of the Lay Chaplain’s needs

Benedictine Spirituality – How the Rule of St. Benedict continues to be a relevant model for strengthening spirituality, building Christian community and caring for others

Listening Skills – Compassionate listening in care-giving and in community, especially as a reflection of the depth of spiritual life

Prayer, Worship, Christian meditation and Silence – The value of silence, stillness, and simplicity as spiritual disciplines and the relationship of meditation/contemplation to ministry presence

The Pastoral Visit, Boundaries & Identity – Development of the pastoral skills of observation, listening, sensitivity, compassion, prayer and privacy, especially as they flow from the Lay Chaplain’s relationship with God

Confidentiality and Debriefing – Learning to honor privacy and how to care for one another, in pastoral ministry and community

Practice Pastoral Visits – Gives trainees a chance to gain experience in a pastoral care setting, by visiting a place or places they wish to volunteer after training is complete, as well as experience in debriefing after pastoral care visits (learning how to process visits and receive mutual support.

Grief: Coping with Loss – Understanding personal loss and grief as preparation for appropriate pastoral ministry to others

Exploring Pastoral Ministry – Spiritual Care for Seniors (This module includes two optional components: Spirituality and Health or Pastoral Care and Cultural/Ethnic/Religious Diversity)

Discovering Who You Are –Understanding who we are, through journaling and sharing with others, learning about family altars and how they may be used.

Alternate Module Options:

Understanding Family Systems - Seeing care-receivers and ourselves as a part of relationship networks, each with scared ongoing history and story

Motivational Spiritual Gifts – Identify and appreciate various spiritual gifts in community and their relationship to pastoral care ministry and their impact on building community

Commitment to Ministry – Increased self-awareness in the community process of pastoral identity formation through sharing of personal stories, an evaluation of the training, and review of Rule of Benedict’s procedure for receiving members.

Circle of Care

After being commissioned, all trained lay chaplains are integrated into the ever-widening Circle of Care, which meets monthly to:

Debrief – Debrief pastoral visits. Review the need for confidentiality. Receive mutual support

Deepen spiritual life – Practice contemplative prayer, lectio divina, discuss The Rule of Benedict

Enjoy continuing education – Benefit from guest speakers, videos and presentations on topics related to ministry, spiritual growth and pastoral care

Share in supervision – Take part in peer supervision. Receive coordinators/clergy support

Report visitation data – Make monthly reports of ministry locations and hours

Deepen Community – Worship at beginning and close of Circle of Care and enjoy refreshments

The Galveston Circle of Care meets the second Thursday of the month, at William Temple Episcopal Center, unless otherwise announced; excluding July when they take a summer break. For more information call 762-8641.

Lay Chaplain’s Pledge to Patients

I will listen to you as you desire to talk.
I will respect you and your spirituality and not try to change you to be like me.
I will let you decide what we talk about.
I will pray with you if you ask me.
I will keep our conversation confidential.

When People Want to Talk

A Lay chaplain is there for those who feel alone, need company, or just want to talk to someone. A Lay Chaplain listens with a non-judgmental ear. A Lay Chaplain tunes in to a patient's needs and if invited, will be glad to talk about:

Spiritual Issues
Troubling Problems
Growing Spirituality
Referrals

For those who just want to talk...

A Lay Chaplain is there for you.
A Lay Chaplain is a trained listener, caregiver, friend.
A Lay Chaplain is not an evangelist, seeking to change a patient or patient’s family to another religion.

Please call or write to William Temple Episcopal Center for an application form for the Community of Hope Lay Chaplain training program, 427 Market St. Galveston TX 77550 Phone: (409)-762-8641 or e-mail at wtfcleta@sbcglobal.net or wtfrevhelen@sbcglobl.net

427 Market St. Galveston TX 77550

Office: (409)-762-8641 | Fax: (409)-762-0244