Christian Identity, Catholic Identity

Christian identity, Catholic identity: NOT the same exactly.
Response to article in NCR


CHRISTIAN:
• Following the teachings of Jesus: He wanted fulfilled the laws of the Jewish religion, recalled them to its fundamental principles with respect to justice and affirmed God’s love for each of them. For that he was crucified.
• Love God, Love your neighbor as yourself.
• The Sermon on the Mount.
• His example set toward women, outcasts, poor, uneducated, etc. through parables and actions.
• His willingness to suffer the consequences, even to death, for preaching the truth.

CATHOLIC:
• Bowing to the authority of the popes and hierarchy, agreeing to whatever they say, without open dissent. Ignore the opulence, hording and deceit of some, for the sake of the rest, who are good pastors and followers.
• Following traditions of worship, as they are thought to be traditional. If there is no priest, there is no Mass. End of subject. (Liturgy worked better in Latin, as it was more spiritual and meditative, not necessary to understand.)
• Accepting the theology, usually applications of Biblical or Jesus’ teaching to a given historical moment, which has now shifted radically. “Modernism” and “relativism” to be rejected in favor of certainty, as given already. (This worked better when it was all in Latin. People felt holy, and felt like church authorities knew more if not all of everything, for sure.)
• Obeying church laws, which are designed to support the structure through attendance and donations. If not, you might go to hell or be excluded socially.
• Doing service through accepted channels. Cemeteries, hospitals, universities, seminaries and schools do a lot of good, as non-profits, employing many very productively, to good ends. Who could object to that?

If I were the Pope, I would call Catholics everywhere back to their Christian roots, de-emphasizing differences among various churches or disciplines. Create and focus on the theology that applies today, and encourage a variety of expressions of solidarity, including the traditional ones the Catholic church knows. This would require giving up a lot of control and power, so it is not likely to happen, unless there is a catastrophic event worldwide that loosens the grip of centralized governments everywhere, including church. Maybe Global Warming and Global War are the Spirit’s ways of clearing the field for Its work again. I think John XXIII tried this, but that has been pretty well thrown out now.

Catholic churches have a future if they see themselves as the genuine extended family of everyone who chooses to join them: rich, poor, any gender, any race, any disability, in other words, when they return to being truly simple Christians.

Meanwhile the Catholic Church will hobble along like any business that has matured and finds itself obsolete, because it is now selling the wrong merchandise: exclusivity. “For lack of a vision, the people perish.” Catholics are perishing, or parishing together as people tend to do.

Those obsessed with “Catholic” identity will:
• Adhere closely to the rules from Rome on liturgies, so they are all alike somehow.
• Continue to preach tradition as higher in importance than the current evidence of our own intelligence or intuition, deferring to church “experts”.
• Will feel guilty whenever they fail to follow all the directives, past, present and future.
• Will love and support the church financially as best they can.

Christians will live in confidence that God is good and benevolent, to each and every person on the face of the earth. Christians will live their lives to the best of their ability, bring compassion to others whose lives they affect or influence. They will weep with those who mourn, and rejoice with those who are joyful. They have a personal relationship with the divine. And Jesus will say to them one day, “Come in. I know you.” Some of them are also Catholics.






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Spiritual Pain at the End of Life

Spiritual Pain at the End of Life
Presented by Mary Ballantyne, RN, CNPN
From Providence Hospice

October 21, 2007

Hospice patients teach us about life, about priorities. Usually family relationships are high on the list.

Medications can break the cycle of physical pain, but have no effect on the terminal illness of the soul. Yet spiritual and physical illness are almost always interrelated.

Physical pain is only one dimension of pain that a patient reports. Spiritual and Emotinal pain is very important to assess and manage at end of life, because it effects the “total” person. People die today the way they have always died, with fears, struggles, and reluctance to leave their loved ones behind, which increases their desire to cling to life and revisit their past. Spiritual pain exacerbates physical pain and can lead to the terminal illness of the soul—hopelessness. Our response to pain is highly subjective.

Spirituality vs. Religion: Spirituality is a connection of the inner self with others and the transcendental being (divine) accompanied by their interactions, and therefore is Whatever gives meaning in life. Religion is a system of organized beliefs and worship which the person practices. There is a need for meaning at the end of life. Religion may offer spiritual resources such as confession, forgiveness, meditation, holy texts, rituals. There is a need to be loved, and to love. Helping others die peacefully entails compassion, living today, and inevitably feeling helpless. (The Stations of the Cross rehearse the stages of dying.)

Spiritual Pain
1. A loss of Identity. Who am I? I cannot do what I used to do, too sick or too disabled.
2. Loss of Relationships: Whom do I support and who supports me? Where are those I took care of? Did I fail them?
3. Lost of Physical self: What am I? I have more to do, for family, friends, volunteer work, yet can’t care for my own needs, often without strength to dress, bathe, etc., including embarrassment.

Identifiers of Spiritual Pain
1. Uncontrolled physical symptoms
2. Loss of hope and meaning
3. Loss of roles in the lives of others, feeling abandoned
4. Unresolved issues, unanswered questions
5. Anger, fear, dread
6. Isolation/Secrets
7. Pattern of dysfunctional coping
No single person can meet all the needs of the dying person. We want to “fix it”, often keeping busy to avoid facing the reality and being helpless. We must give that up.

Can Spiritual Suffering be a Choice: Yes
1. Some may feel the need to suffer and refuse pain medication as this will help them earn their right to eternal paradise.
2. Some may willingly suffer for the sake of others (parents, soldiers)
3. The unique capacity to choose suffering is the true meaning of compassion. We may choose to give though it subtracts something from ourself.
Are we required to choose to suffer?

Keywords that may signal Spiritual Pain: Validate these feelings. “You did the best you could when you were there, with what you had/knew at the time.”
1. Loneliness
2. Separateness
3. Abandonment
4. Despair
5. Fear
6. Guilt
7. Punishment
8. Resentment
9. Blame: Did God choose me for this? Or did I choose it?

Carl Jung: “To cherish such secrets is a spiritual misdemeanor for which nature will visit us with sickness.” Secrets are unresolved situations kept “private”. Forgiveness of self, of others, of God, and acceptance of forgiveness is the only way out. When they cannot be “fixed”, we can only witness the intention.

Difficult Questions
1. Why is God punishing me?
2. What was the meaning of my life?
3. Did I do the things I was meant to do?
4. How will my family manage without me?
5. Will I be remembered?
Putting the questions back to the dying person can be a useful strategy, an opening for conversation/listening session. Let that person lead the way. Maintain an atmosphere conducive to sharing. Show interest and sympathy without editing or judging. Emphasize uplifting points. Some patients connect with others they know who have already passed. They feel “guided”, companioned.

How Hospice Intercedes: follows a holistic model, assessing spiritual pain
1. Exhibit interest and empathy
2. Encourage life review
3. Explore issues of guilt, blame, remorse, and forgiveness
4. Foster hope


5. Listening rather than fixing
6. Involve other disciplines
7. Be emotionally and spiritually present

Volunteers have the ability and opportunity to hear patients’ stories through “Life review”. They are more than a friendly visitor. They enhance the patients’ quality of life.

Intervention for Non-Responsive Patients: Those patients who cannot speak or communicate often DO hear.
1. Give gentle and reassuring touch
2. Observe responses before proceeding with any activity, say what you will be doing
3. Be present, try for eye contact
4. Music
5. Address the patient as though responsive.
6. Keep the door ajar and some light on.

Barriers and Challenges to Effective Interventions:
1. lack of privacy (hospital or home routines that disrupt or disturb)
2. Lack of trust (unknown persons cannot build rapport)
3. Physical pain (intrudes, keep the goal of management)
4. Patient’s belief differ from clinician
5. Clinicain may have person biases

Chaplains See the Spiritual Needs at End of Life as:
1. Meaning and purpose, a reason to continue
2. Forgiveness, finishing business
3. Hope/Creativity, still contributing, leaving a legacy or memorial, a need to go beyond the material and talk out their fears
4. Relatedness/sense of belonging
5. Need to talk it out, revisit grief, disease, etc. (with others not personally involved in that life as relatives and friends are)

Spiritual Growth at the End of Life, and Beyond
1. Increased time for reflection
2. Finding strength in their experiences
3. Family will often seek healing and reconciliation
4. Facing death evokes spiritual questions
5. They are then an example of courage and faith to others
6. They learn to live in the moment, now.

CLOSURE: Dr. Ira Byock offers five things that are needed for closure:
1. Forgive me
2. I forgive you
3. Thank you
4. I love you
5. Good-bye






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