From Across the Pond

I was invited to give a workshop at a National Bereavement Conference in Birmingham, England in September this year and this happily provided an opportunity for me to make a collateral visit to The Queen’s Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education at the kind behest of my intrepid host, The Rev. Dr. Peter Hammersley. Peter and I met nine years ago when we combined forces to lead a seminar on the mourning for Princess Diana at Westminster Abbey on the occasion of the first anniversary of her death. Peter is involved in a number of intriguing enterprises, one of which is the oversight he lends to doctoral work at Queen’s.

Through Peter’s kind introduction, I spent a most stimulating and constructive hour and a half with the Dean of Queen’s, David Hewlett. In a wide-ranging conversation, we concluded with the Dean’s warm invitation to students from the states who might want to pursue some form of education under Queen’s auspices. The range of what they provide is vast, from undergraduate curriculum to independent research projects, and includes M.A.s leading to a Th.D., a new degree program that they consider to be a “professional practical theological degree” playfully abbreviated “DPT” (for “Doctorate in Practical Theology”), and a small but significant foreign student group pursuing courses in mission.

As we turned our attention to the topic of chaplaincy, I was interested in the Dean’s savvy identification of “mission” as the proper lens for undertaking (and providing) training in chaplaincy. He averred to the significant increase in students seeking training for chaplaincy, what he estimated to amount to a 25% increase over the past twenty years. He also candidly mused over the school’s reticence to really seriously deliberate over the nature of course offerings that would benefit a bona fide program to meet the needs of these students.

Dean Hewlett was not at a loss to suggest a program, though, and I pass on his thoughtful and comprehensive reflections here of what he would like to see in such an undertaking: education in spiritual resources requisite for sustaining the “eccentric ministries” of chaplains, training in how to productively connect with the secular institutions in which the chaplain may be called to serve, how to conduct theological reflection (with supervised support), how to work in teams (especially multifaith), the context of chaplaincy, with especial attention to ethnographic methodology, and the history of chaplaincy, and particularly in the specific institution to be served.

Among the research projects underway at Queen’s is a study of the effectiveness of participation in social protest as an aspect of transformative education, and in particular in the formation of the prophetic capacities of future ministers. Spearheaded by systematic theologian John M. Hull (who has written extensively on why it is difficult for adult Christians to learn!) in collaboration with my host, Peter Hammersley, the story of the courage of a group of students who went to the Faslane naval base, home of Britain’s Trident nuclear submarine fleet is most impressive. The results of their analysis of the research remain to be seen, but promises to make an interesting contribution to the pedagogy of ministerial training.

Finally, Peter gave me a tour of three separate prisons in the Birmingham area and invited a lay prison chaplain to join us for lunch. She had recently encountered a challenging situation which she spoke about at some length. I asked what in her training she had found effective in getting her through this episode. Not surprisingly, she said that a good mentor had been invaluable. I was happy to hear, thereafter, of Bud Holland, the head of the Office for Ministerial Development’s collaboration with a group of folks on an effort to create a network of mentoring or “coaches.” Clearly, the chaplaincy training project will benefit by such an effort and I am grateful to Bud for allowing me to participate in conversations about this initiative.

Since my trip across the pond, I’ve been to Bexley Hall in Rochester, NY, and there’s more to report from there, but I will close for now, with a promise to file another installment soon.

Faithfully,
Maggie Izutsu