Jane Leach’s Pastoral Theology as Attention may be regarded as an efficient tool for reflection used by chaplains for the improvement of their practical approaches. This paper aims to evaluate the application of the pastoral theology on the basis of the case when the Chaplain visits the parents whose son is dying. His mother and father face tremendous stress and anxiety caused by temporal illness, and these conditions substantially affect their spirituality. The use of the Pastoral Theology as Attention demonstrates how the situation may be addressed and analysed for efficient response in the future,
Jane Leach’s Pastoral Theology as Attention: Case Analysis
The voices in the conversation belong to Mack, the Chaplain, and the parents of the 19-years-old young man with leukaemia. Regarded as a purple butterfly patient, the patient is terminally ill, and this circumstance substantially impacts his mother’ and father’s emotional state and spirituality. Both parents belong to the middle class; they are in their late forties, of colour and athletically built. They have a direct conversation with the Chaplain, and their voices are not being mediated by someone else. The patient is present as well, however, his participation is substantially limited. In other words, he may understand when spoken to, but he cannot reply verbally and communicate by nodding or shaking his head and some movements of his hands and arms.
It goes without saying that the parents are shattered by their son’s imminent death and their inability to change the situation. The family looks exhausted and upset; the parents have dreary and droopy eyes, and it is challenging for them to control their emotions. During the conversation, first of all, the parents thank the Chaplain for coming and mention the significance of this visit for their spirituality. In turn, the Chaplain expresses his sorrow concerning the family’s challenging situation and reads the poem “Footprints in the Sand” to address their concerns. The parents are glad to listen to the poem and ask the Chaplain to pray for them and baptise their son before the end of the visit.
Attention to the Wider Issues
From the conversation, it is possible to define its main themes, including anger, pain, distress, and anxiety. It is obvious that the family experiences suffering due to its family’s terminal illness and inevitable loss. In addition, the parents’ emotional state has been already affected by physical exhaustion, a particular financial burden caused the mother’s necessity to leave work to take care of their son, a previous loss that occurred a couple of years before and fear for another son’s health. However, the central topic and the basis of the conversation is the parents’ spiritual and religious questions that impact their faith. In agony, feeling inexplicable grief, the parents ask why their son is chosen by God to die at an early age. Their concerns not only deteriorate their faith but affect their emotional well-being causing additional stress and limiting the opportunities of health care professionals to provide high-quality palliative care delivery to the fullest extent.
In general, people’s backgrounds have a substantial impact on their perceptions of various concepts, including terminal illnesses. Religious and spiritual beliefs, education, levels of experience, personal philosophies, and past losses may impact a person’s attitude toward dying. Thus, when patients and their family members face the end of life, culture should be considered by health care providers and other specialists to provide the most appropriate assistance and address their concerns (Gysels et al., 2017). In relation to the 19-years-old young man’s parents, both of them are Christians who belong to the United Reformed Church community in Henleaze. As the family is religious, and religion has a massive impact on people’s culture, forming their attitudes and belief, from this conversation, particular trends may be observed.
First of all, Christianity is associated with strong support, family bonds, and belief in God’s providence. For example, the mother decided to leave work in order to dedicate all her time to her son, even if it is extremely challenging for her to cope with the stress of seeing his decline. In addition, the couple mentions that all community members support them and are praying for their son. At the same time, Christians believe in God’s justice and good things for every person who loves the Lord. The family forms its attitude toward struggles on the basis of the story of King David in the Bible, who lost his son. When God allowed David’s son with Bathsheba to die because of the sins they committed, it creates a sense of understanding as people believe that only people with a disgraceful attitude to the Lord deserve punishment.
However, when tragedy happens within a family, and its members are faithful to God and do not commit multiple sins, words related to God’s justice lose the sense to them. The parents of a dying son faced an extremely hard and unfortunate issue regarding the difficult situation and circumstances in this evil world that they did not expect. Their suffering lasts for a long period of time as their son was diagnosed in childhood, and all this time, the parents had hope mixed with emotional distress and despair. In addition, their pain increases, especially in contrast with the joy of a child’s birth in the past and expectations that his life would be long and full of happiness and opportunities. In addition, as the parents have another son, they are afraid that he may die at an early age as well even if he does not deserve it too. Injustice and fear lead to anger, blaming God, and a crisis of faith.
From the context, it is obvious that Christian theology and psychology within the framework of mental health care might help understand existing issues better. In general, Christian theology aims to construct a comprehensive system of values, beliefs, and practices on the basis of the Old and New Testaments’ texts and believers’ historical traditions. At the same time, Christian theologians examine, critique, clarify, defend, and explicate Christianity using rational analysis and biblical exegesis for its promotion in a reasonable and argumentative manner. Theology compares Christianity with other religions, facilitates the Church’s reforms, and assists in the spread of Christian values and beliefs. Meanwhile, theology helps ordinary people who face challenging situations to find answers concerning religion-related issues, address their concerns, and strengthen spirituality. In addition, the context of this conversation presupposes the significant role of mental health care as the family is closely connected with a medical facility. In particular, people’s behaviour is closely connected with their emotions, such as anger, despair and tremendously high stress levels. Addressing these conditions through cognitive therapy may support the improvement of the parents’ emotional well-being as well.
Attention to My Own Voice
As the Chaplain, Mack has several duties in relation to the patients’ parents that aim to support them and strengthen their faith in God. First of all, he should express his compassion and offer active and non-judgmental listening, emotionally supporting people who are passing through extremely hard times for them. In addition, he should provide them with spiritual resources and religious guidance to restore their faith and empower them to overcome struggles. Using biblical texts, additional resources, and his own experience, the Chaplain should explain God’s providence to help people cope with their imminent loss.
At the same time, the Chaplain is a human, and human emotions are not unfamiliar to him. First of all, being a health care chaplain, facing terminal illnesses on a regular basis, and meeting people in agony have a considerable impact on a person’s emotional and mental well-being. Thus, this visit leaves Mack emotionally drained, especially taking into consideration that
He has already visited a family at NBT with the purple butterfly patient as well. Moreover, he perfectly understands the parent’s feelings of anger, dissatisfaction, and disbelief – as faithful Christians, they are sure that love for God, following His will, and committing no sins save them from life tragedies and other negative circumstances. However, they faced seeming injustice and suffered from anger and uncertainty in relation to their younger son.
The understanding of the parent’s emotional state and feelings comes from personal experience, as all people experience anger when they find themselves in a challenging situation, and they do not deserve the sufferings it brings. At the same time, equipped with theological knowledge and strong faith, the Chaplain believes that God’s providence is more important than people’s current feelings as He knows much more than any of His followers. At the same time, it is the Chaplain who should help people cope with their grief by explaining to them why they may pass through challenges. In this case, he helps them restore their faith and believe in the Lord stronger than before to overcome struggles.
Attention to the Theological Tradition
Ethics that are practised in this case include trustworthiness, promise-keeping, honesty, respect and concern for others, loyalty, fairness, and law-abiding. The Chaplain honestly expresses his sorrow in relation to the family’s grief and respects the parents’ feelings of anger and hopelessness. At the same time, he sincerely wants to help provide insight into the understanding of God’s providence in order to strengthen the couple’s spirituality. Moreover, the Chaplain keep promises given to the family in relation to praying for the patient.
At the same time, Christian ethics reflected in this context as well presuppose the definition of virtuous behaviour in contrast with wrong behaviour within the framework of Christianity. In other words, while people’s anger may be regarded as a natural emotion, it should not lead to disrespect for God and a loss of spirituality on the basis of disbelief in His providence. That is why it is essential for the Chaplain not only to address people’s pain by soothing it but to assess their faith and undertake all efforts to strengthen it and prevent their inappropriate behavior.
In order to provide efficient guidance, it is essential to address the parent’s concerns from a religious perspective. During the visit, the poem “Footprints in the Sand” written by Margaret Fishback Power is read by the Chaplain, and the expediency of this action is determined by multiple factors. First of all, the poem was written on the basis of personal experience when its author was trying to cope with challenges in her life. In addition, the Chaplain mentions that this poem is helpful for him as well as he finds peace, courage, and faith in God while reading it in difficult situations. In this case, the parents feel that they are not alone, and other people also face losses feeling that their spirituality is affected, however, their love to God and trust in Him help them to recover.
Moreover, the Chaplain strengthens the parent’s faith by providing Isaiah 41:10: “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” (“Old Testament,” n.d.). In this way, the Chaplain shows that God loves His believers, and He is with them all the time, guiding them through all challenges and struggles. At the same time, in order to prevent the couple’s disbelief and a loss of trust in divine providence, the Chaplain addresses their concerns as the Devil’s efforts to tempt them. In support of these words, he provides 1 Corinthians 10:13: “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” (“New Testament,” n.d.). According to it, it is common for people to lose faith and feel injustice when they are forced to face tragedies they did not expect and do not deserve. However, there are no challenges given to people that they cannot cope with. In addition, moving from God by negative emotions is Devil’s temptation that should be avoided by faithful believers.
At the same time, it is recommended for the Chaplain to expand the themes of God’s providence and forgiveness using additional materials, such as other poems, theologians’ studies, other people’s stories, the following biblical texts:
- Luke 6:37: “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.”
- Joel 2:13: “And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.”
- Psalms 37:28: “For the Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.” (“Old Testament,” n.d.; “New Testament,” n.d.).
These texts explain that trust in God’s providence is paramount, and even if the Lord understands people’s anger, these feeling should be avoided in order not to become wrongdoers. In addition, it is necessary to explain to the parents that even if they feel that God left them or wants them suffer, they are mistaken as the Lord knows better and sends challenges to make people stronger. Even if He sent His son to people and let them kill him, this victim was justified by salvation.
Attention to the Mission of the Church
The mission of the Church corresponds with the main objectives of theology and implies the promotion and defence of Christianity. In this case, the Chaplain represents the Church as he helps people cope with despair, anger, anxiety, and sufferings caused by the terminal illness of their family members and their imminent death. It is essential for the Chaplain to develop personally and professionally to help people in the most appropriate ways. First of all, it is essential to develop resilience as facing people’s sufferings on a daily basis may lead to emotional exhaustion, distress, and a loss of faith. In addition, it is necessary to enhance interpersonal and communication skills to understand people’s concerns. Finally, it is essential to expand the Chaplain’s knowledge of theology, Christian ethics, biblical texts and other materials to be able to explain religion-related issues for efficient solutions.
Jane Leach’s Pastoral Theology as Attention: Evaluation
In general, Jane Leach’s Pastoral Theology as Attention aims to provide guidance for chaplains’ activities in relation to their daily services. It helps build and shape the theological theory to make it practically applicable. All in all, it is possible to say that applying the pastoral theology to the case of a dying son and his parents was a highly beneficial experience. All in all, it allows to reflect on inner and wider issues on the basis of the context and people’s words and expressions (Leach, 2007). Thus, the parents’ emotions and the conversation with them allowed to understand a deeper issue of losing faith when people face seeming injustice and feel that they do not deserve challenges and struggles. An in-depth analysis of these feelings, including anger, despair, anxiety, helps determine the most appropriate approach on the basis of theology. Subsequently, the theory allows to evaluate materials and techniques that were used to address people’s concerns, compare them with more appropriate ones, and add new approaches if necessary.
All in all, Jane Leach’s Pastoral Theology as Attention allows chaplains to analyse their experience for the improvement of their skills in the future. Thus, chaplains’ help for people who experience tremendous pain and suffer from the feeling of injustice may become more efficient. In addition, working on theological reflection step by step allows to see the potential ways of enhancement. For instance, when all materials that were used to address the parents’ concerns were described, and their emotional state along with its reasons were evaluated, additional biblical texts that could be used as well to provide more efficient outcomes were identified. At the same time, it was challenging to sort information according to several steps due to its volume and the fact that some steps presuppose the use of similar data. For instance, the role of the Church, the role of the Chaplain in relation to it, and the role of the Chaplain in relation to the patients’ parents are considerably similar.
Nevertheless, Jane Leach’s Pastoral Theology as Attention demonstrates how chaplains’ practice may be evaluated for improvement in the future. It provides a structural model that implies the reflection on the basis of the context and performed activities. It teaches chaplains to apply logic and critical thinking when the main themes should be identified for efficient help (Leach, 2007). In addition, it provides multiple opportunities for chaplains’ personal and professional growth as it allows to evaluate their attitude to particular situations and assess their expedience.
Jane Leach’s Pastoral Theology as Attention and the Pastoral Cycle
As a matter of fact, both Jane Leach’s Pastoral Theology as Attention and the pastoral cycle may be regarded as efficient tools for chaplains’ reflection in relation to the practical application of theology for the enhancement of their activities and more positive outcomes. The pastoral cycle has several components, including immersion, analysis, theological reflection, and response. In general, both approaches allow to improve practice on the basis of its analysis, personal experience, reflection, response, and the evaluation of results. At the same time, the pastoral cycle implies the context’s analysis on the basis of personal experience (National Justice and Peace Network, n.d.). In turn, the pastoral theology emphasises the significance of others’ voices and the context, while a chaplain’s voice contributes to the analysis along with theology and other disciplines. From a personal perspective, this method provides more accurate and unbiased reflection. In addition, due to more steps and a well-defined structure, the pastoral theology facilitates the process of reflection, and its use is more comfortable.
Conclusion
The visit of the Chaplain initiated by the parents of a dying patient was analysed with the use of Jane Leach’s Pastoral Theology as Attention on the basis of its several steps that include attention to participants, wider issues, a personal voice, theological traditions, and the Church’s mission. All in all, it allows to identify the main problems related to religion and faith on the basis of theological knowledge, personal experience, and the context. Subsequently, applied strategies were analysed for the evaluation of the current response and its improvement in the future. It is possible to conclude that Jane Leach’s Pastoral Theology as Attention is a highly efficient and comprehensive tool that contributes to chaplains’ personal and professional growth, the development of theology, and the Church’s mission.
References
Gysels, M., Evans, N., Meñaca, A. E. A., Toscani, F., Finetti, S., Pasman, H. R., Higginson, I., Harding, R., & Pool, R. (2020). Culture and end of life care: A scoping exercise in seven European countries. In A. L. Caplan & B. Parent (Eds.), The ethical challenges of emerging medical technologies (pp. 335-350). Routledge.
Leach, J. (2007). Pastoral theology as attention. Contact, 153(1), 19-32.
National Justice and Peace Network. (n.d.). How to…..use the pastoral cycle. Web.
New Testament. (n.d.). Web.
Old Testament. (n.d.). Web.