CPE Done

My CPE experience has ended. If it wasn't obvious from my lack of posting it kept me really busy all summer. Now I'm taking some time off to do some R&R because once my fall semester starts it's ahead full blast. I have a full schedule and three jobs lined up. But I'm not thinking about that for the next couple of weeks.

For now I'm just going to hang back and relax as best I can. I suggest you do the same before summer fades into fall.

Hospital Psalm

Out of the hospital I call to you, Lord.

O Lord, listen to my cry;

Be attentive to me! Answer me!

I look to the Lord,

I await God’s word.

I am more eager for the Lord than the night shift for the morning;

Than the night shift for the morning.

-Based on Psalm 130

Gustavo

A couple weeks ago I had the incredible honor to meet Gustavo Gutiérrez...

He is one of the greatest theological minds of our time and is known as the father of Liberation Theology. He is a professor at Notre Dame and a Dominican priest. His best known work is A Theology of Liberation. Of course I didn't have my copy on me when I found out he would be at my school. But a group of us did get him to take a picture with us!

July

Is it July? Yes. Is it mid-July? Yes. Wow.

Tomorrow summer language begins at PTS. Last year at this time I was moving into my dorm and nervously awaiting that #1 anxiety producing course Biblical Greek. Turns out it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be... and it also was as bad as I thought it would be but in different ways. The biggest difference between Greek and CPE is that learning Greek is highly predictable. You have the book. You have the syllabus. You have the professor and teaching assistants. You spend hours writing out paradigms on white boards. But in the hospital every time you enter its doors or turn on your pager you don't know what's going to happen. When the pager goes off anything could be happening. When you enter someone's room you don't know what they're going to say or if they're able to speak.

It's just a very different summer. Last summer I was figuring out how the "seminarian" label fit into me, and now I'm figuring out how the "chaplain" label fits into me while still being a seminarian. Both are growing processes. Not all growth is easy. Some is just confusing. Someone asked me the other day if I was "the E.M." I said yes since those are my initials, but when I entered the room the nurse wanted me to go in the patient said they wanted the Eucharistic Minister. Now that I am not, but I do know how to get the Eucharistic Ministers. An EM was found, the Eucharist was done, and the patient was happy. Is that the right verb? Done? Sorry if it's not.

So the summer is different, and I'm still growing. Both good things.

In church

Today I attended a church (not the one I normally attend), and I sat behind this woman who was editing the bulletin for grammar as the service went along. Now we all know that church bulletins sometimes have mistakes in them. The people who write the bulletins are often pulling in information from multiple places, and mistakes are made. It's not a big deal. It was disconcerting to be listening to a sermon about freedom from the world and being bonded to each other in Christ and love (bonus points if you figure out what book was being preached from) and to watch this woman edit the bulletin.

The church was very welcoming, and I liked the service. It's nice to go to church after a long week.

12 Hour Shifts

Four times over the summer as part of the CPE process we have to do 12 hour shifts on site.

12 hours is a long time.

Week One Done

I was planning on updating before now, but it's been a long week at the hospital. We've gone through hospital orientation (one full day) and then four days or so of pastoral office orientation. Some training in all sorts of things like what HIPPA is and how it applies to us and how to use certain kinds of software along with here's what you can and cannot do as pastoral care givers. For example, we cannot give anyone water just in case they're fasting before a test or surgery. Didn't know that a week ago. What I didn't know a week ago and what I do today could fill a book. Maybe several books.

This weekend I've been working some events on campus. All music stuff. Rehearsals, concerts, and piano recitals. I've also been playing quite a lot of video games and letting my mind go blank. This pastoral care stuff is not as easy as it looks sometimes.