A British secularist group has called on the government to end public support for hospital chaplains, saying the government has no business in paying the salaries of religious clergy.
The National Secular Society (NSS) has sent a report to Britain’s Health Minister, Alan Johnson, calling for a review of hospital chaplaincy services with a view to ending taxpayer funding for them.
“People are shocked to learn from us that chaplaincy services are costing the hard-pressed (publicly funded) National Health Service more than 40 million pounds ($60 million) a year,” Keith Porteous Wood, chief executive of the NSS, told Ecumenical News International.
[blockquote]“People are shocked to learn from us that chaplaincy services are costing the hard-pressed (publicly funded) National Health Service more than 40 million pounds ($60 million) a year,†Keith Porteous Wood, chief executive of the NSS, told Ecumenical News International.[/blockquote]
1. If the Feds pay the bills in nationalized health care it will be difficult to argue for chaplains.
2. As someone who volunteers clergy services in a hospital, I can tell you patients don’t get enough spiritual care. The medical staff don’t have time to deal with spiritual and social emotional problems. The physical therapists can help with the adjustment to the new hip but they can’t address the loss of a spouse by the same patient two months prior to surgery. That male patient is trying to decide if living is worthwhile without a spouse of 60 years. So how good will a new hip be at his funeral?
Yes, this is another of the dark sides of socialized medicine that lurks beneath the surface. And I include not just chaplains in the category, but counselors, social workers, etc., in general. When people see how nationalized healthcare is going to completely balloon the budget and budget deficit, they are going to be calling for cuts to any aspect that they personally don’t thing people need.
“Why should my tax dollars pay for counseling or chaplains or ‘non-essential pork barrel coverage’ or [name your rant of choice]?” they will argue. This is why I am hesitant about national healthcare coverage because healthcare gets infused with the political. And in a country already supersaturated with partisan rancor that has infected the contemporary body politick, do we want that bleeding over (pun intended) into the healthcare system?
The healthcare system has problems, do not get me wrong. But I am not convinced the Government and political system has the wherewithal to deal with it without polluting it with rancor and bureaucracy.
Shouldn’t that be part of the clergy’s ‘job description’ anyway? Visiting the sick in hospitals? Surely area clergy can work out a rotating schedule that wouldn’t cost the government anything. All hospitals would be asked to do would be to provide a space for worship services, which most have anyway.
#3, if you really want to get technical, that should be part of the “job description” of every baptized believer. There is a serious issue however regarding how much time and particularized skill is needed for hospital chaplains. One rector I know also works part time as a hospital chaplain and the difference between when he was a full time rector and now as a part-time rector and part time hospital chaplain is written all over his face in how tired he is. This is also somebody who has significant counseling experience as well as significant hospital chaplain experience.
As someone who was once full-time parish priest and part-time chaplain, I can tell you that the main problem is the call-outs. I only got called out in the middle of the night between one and two times a month, but inevitably it would be followed by a day of commitments that I could not cancel. Not easy. And of course even if you get back to bed by 3 am you may have witnessed some disturbing scenes at hospital that will make it difficult to sleep. A full-time hospital chaplain can usually take time off in lieu.
I am somewhat surprised at the comments quoted from the spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland and would at this point want to know more about what he actually said.
This may be outdated (who knows? I’ve been in the 1800s and back in most of my seminary courses). But. Aren’t [i]all[/i] Church of England clergy paid by the government? Or did they separate that out?
[i]if you really want to get technical, that should be part of the “job description†of every baptized believer. [/i]
Yep, to a point. There definitely needs to be a ‘lay corps’ who visit hospitals on a regular basis. But the Holy Spirit did give a separation of offices and gifts to the Church for ministries (I Corinthians, etc.). That needs to be respected. Not all are going to be gifted for this type of ministry, just as not everyone is gifted to be a teacher, etc. James tells us ‘if any are sick, let him call for the elders of the church to anoint them …’
[i]One rector I know also works part time as a hospital chaplain and the difference between when he was a full time rector and now as a part-time rector and part time hospital chaplain is written all over his face in how tired he is. [/i]
Hence my comment about ‘rotating schedules’. One person needn’t be the ONLY person working at the hospital.
Rather belatedly in response to # 6 – in short, No, they are paid by the Church Commissioners who have enormous investments, but those were started with state money. The collections also help and are funnelled through the dioceses. However chaplains to hospitals, prisons and the armed forces are paid by the state as it is a ministry to state agencies. This applies to clergy of all denominations who exercise chaplain ministry.