National Parish Nurse convention held May in Saskatoon

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1 NEWS ARCHIVE: Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon Editor: Kiply Lukan Yaworski, Communications Phone: ; Toll Free: Saskatoon participants in the national parish nursing conference held in Saskatoon May included (left to right) Trish Holst, Ethna Martin, Carol Kostiuk, Deb Bauche, Sr. Carol Borreson, sgm, and Sandra Kary. National Parish Nurse convention held May in Saskatoon BY KIPLY LUKAN YAWORSKI Delegates from across the country attended the Canadian Association For Parish Nursing Ministry (CAPNM) convention May in Saskatoon, exploring the theme Bridging Spirituality and Health. In an opening celebration May 21 at the Park Town Hotel, those involved in parish nursing were described as front line troops in reaching out to those who are suffering or marginalized. Each and every one of you do make a difference in the lives of people, said Saskatoon Mayor Don Atchison, welcoming delegates to the community. He reflected on the importance of bridging spirituality and health in his own family s experiences. Saskatoon Bishop Albert LeGatt said he has seen the impact that the caring ministry of a Parish Nurse can have no the lives of the sick and suffering. He described how an elderly acquaintance, once very active in the parish, remained connected to her faith community even in illness, thanks to the work of parish nurse Sr. Carol Borreson, SGM, He also expressed appreciation for the ministry of care provided to the late Msgr. Len Morand by Parish Nurses Deb Bauche and Ethna Martin and the St. Philip Neri faith community. At times we minister, and at times we receive the ministry, LeGatt said, reflecting on the incredible richness of creating such communities. Parish nursing is about connecting health and spirituality in the name of the Lord who came that we might have fullness of life, LeGatt said.

2 PAGE 2 Spirituality and health when bridged certainly contribute to wholeness, said Pastor Ralph Gliege of the Saskatchewan Conference of Mennonite Bretheren Churches, noting the work of Parish Nurse Judy Johnson at Forest Grove Community Church in Saskatoon. Bishop Cindy Halmarson of the Saskatchewan Synod of the Evangelical Church of Canada stressed the importance of community to holistic care. In the healing ministry of Jesus, we think about the body, mind and spirit all involved in the healing that Jesus did, Halmarson said. But we don t always remember how important the community is in healing the person. When those lepers were healed they were told to go and show themselves to the priest; to go and be rejoined with the community. That s part of our healing ministry, to keep people in community, to join people to community and to create healing communities. Parish nursing is a community ministry, not an individual ministry, she added. When a Parish Nurse goes to visit a parishioner, they are representing not only themselves, but the congregation of faith, the Church, and Jesus Christ, Halmarson said. Similarly, in the teaching side of ministry, a Parish Nurse works to form and build up the community in its understanding and response to those who are sick and suffering, she said. They are helping the congregation to be a healing community. Halmarson noted recent Saskatoon studies that have shown poverty too be a significant contributor to poor health. Parish Nurses can help us as congregations and church groups to be better advocates for the wider community too, she said. Those kind of bridges are what we need to be building. We church communities are not isolated, and cannot be isolated: we are part of the community. Deb Walker, chair of the Riverbend Presbytery of the United Church of Canada also brought greetings to the convention. The Parish Nurse goes back to our primary mandate to go out and serve God, she said. It is timely, it s important, and it s faithful work. The CAPNM conference included an annual general meeting and the election of officers for the national organization; as well as a silent auction, a Tea for Two event and a walkathon along the river to raise funds for parish nurse organizations. The conference also featured a number of keynote sessions and workshops (see two related articles). Speakers included Redemptorist provincial superior Fr. Michael Brehl, CSsR, ; Don and Pat Peake of McClure United Church in Saskatoon; psychologist Jeff Christiansen who is the executive director of Regina Palliative Care; and ethicist Rev. Mark Miller, CSsR; as well as Carol Kostiuk, Megan McKenna and Gail Brimbecom Deacon Bob Willison, CSsR, led music during an opening service for the Parish Nurse gathering May 22 in Saskatoon

3 PAGE 3 Fr Michael Brehl gives opening talk at Parish Nurse conference BY KIPLY LUKAN YAWORSKI Spirituality is the glue that holds together the many tasks that fall under the healing ministry of the parish nurse, said the opening speaker at a national parish nursing conference held May in Saskatoon. It s quite a job description that parish nursing hold out to the Christian community, said Rev. Michael Brehl, CSsR, Edmonton-Toronto provincial superior of the Redemptorists, listing roles such as caregiver, leader, organizer, and advocate. Parish nursing reminds us that the ministry of care is the duty of all Christians, said Brehl, stressing that it is a ministry rooted in the healing ministry of Jesus. It s not just that a parish nurse, when they visit someone, represents the parish community. When parish nursing ministry revitalizes a parish s sense of how important and significant the healing ministry of Jesus is - for everything that we do and everything we preach - then the community itself becomes an instrument of healing, he said. It is much more collaborative than being a representative. One becomes a sacrament, with that healing touch of Jesus in the community. Bridging spirituality and health was the theme of the national conference of the Canadian Association for Parish Nursing Ministry (CAPNM), hosted in Saskatoon by the Parish Nursing Professional Practice Group and Interchurch Health Ministries. Experience shapes spirituality, said Brehl, hearkening back to the save your soul understanding of salvation that he experienced growing up a process that seemed individual, focused on the next world and very personal. Brehl described childhood understandings of an allseeing God noting that there is a big difference between believing that God is a universal policeman watching to catch you doing something wrong, and believing that God just can t take his eyes off you because he loves you so much. Both (views) might result in the very same behaviours, but inside, something s different. On the inside, the God we are relating with is different, he said of the two understandings. Ultimately, living the Christian life will not be Fr. Michael Brehl sustained by fear, but will be nourished, nurtured by love, Brehl said. That s the heart of real spirituality.

4 PAGE 4 He joked about his own Redemptorist order s preaching reputation: we were able to preach about hellfire and brimstone so effectively that I was sure that was where some of the old fellows went for summer holidays. But he stressed how founder St.. Alphonsus Ligouri, taught that fear will not change hearts... the only thing that converts hearts is love. For Jesus, teaching, preaching and healing were integral, and he attended the whole person, Brehl said. He somehow seemed to sense and respond to real people as they were, he said, noting Jesus deep friendships. Think how human he was, and how much he enjoyed celebration, Brehl added, citing the wedding feast of Cana, and how easily Jesus was approached by children, the poor and the sick. What kind of charismatic man was this? This was not some disembodied spirit. This was not someone who didn t know what it meant to be human. Spirituality is not divorced from being fully human, body, mind and spirit, said Brehl. For those in the Christian tradition, spirituality is marked by the incarnation. What the incarnation says to us first and foremost is how precious it is to be human, how good it is to be human, and that God wasn t kidding when God created Adam and Eve and looked and said: this is very good, he said. This creation of humanity is so good, so valuable, so precious, that God can t wait to become human can t wait to roll up his sleeves and become one of us. Whoever follows Jesus is called to become more fully human, Brehl asserted. Sometimes we think of spirituality as being about prayer, piety, devotion, esthetic discipline they are all important, but they are not the whole story, he said., calling for an earthy spirituality. Brehl cited Rev. Ron Rolheiser s book The Holy Longing to describe the four pillars of Christian spirituality: the pillar of personal prayer and private morality based firmly on a personal relationship with God; the pillar of social justice ( it s not about me and Jesus; it s always about me and Jesus and everyone else ); the pillar of gentleness, meekness and mellowness of heart; and the pillar of community. Freedom is also integral to our spirituality, Brehl added. God forms a people by calling them forth from Egypt and setting them free. Jesus forms his body by calling people who have been weighed down by the restrictions placed on them by others, and setting them free. When Jesus multiplies the loaves and fishes to feed thousands, the greatest miracle in the story is that this large, diverse crowd sits down and eats together, asserted Brehl. Have you ever thought about that? With all of the restrictions on who could eat with each other, about the clean and the unclean, and what do they do? All these people, they eat together. They break bread and pass it to the next one, they break fish and pass it to the next one, he said. It s the freedom to be daughters and sons of God, the freedom to be the presence of Jesus, the freedom to be home, without checking anyone s credentials. He described how in the gospel, Jesus cures the leper by reaching out to actually touch the leprous spot. The healing takes place in the touch, not the cure, he said, noting that Jesus could have chosen to cure from afar. The one who had not been touched, who was isolated, marginalized is raised to life through the touch of Jesus. Christians are called to be the body of Christ incarnate here and now, offering the same healing touch, always working toward inclusion.

5 PAGE5 Brehl called for a spirituality of celebrating like Jesus celebrated, going to weddings like Cana and turning water into wine, welcoming children and holding them safe, and reaching out to the leper, the woman with the flow of blood, the marginalized, the outcast and not with judgment but with welcome, he said. When we do that and we do then we are not an instrument, in the way that a flute is an instrument in the hands of a wonderful flutist through which the wind blows. We actually become the presence of Jesus the same way in which the human flesh of Jesus embodies the divinity and the sacred, and made the healing touch of God real and practical and possible: (becoming) sacrament ABCs of Parish Nursing explored in workshop BY ANDRÉA LEDDING The ABCs of parish nursing ministry was one of the workshop sessions held during a national conference in Saskatoon May Parish nurses are Registered Nurses with specialized knowledge and training who are both called to ministry and affirmed by a faith community it is a congregational appointment to promote health, healing, and wholeness by combining spiritual practices with scientific knowledge. Dr. Gail Brimbecom of Interchurch Health Ministries in Aurora, Ontario identified the biblical mandate for the healing ministry found in Hebrew and Christian scriptures psalms, gospels, and letters from apostles. Echoing the theme of the Canadian Association For Parish Nursing Ministry (CAPNM) convention, Bridging spirituality and health, Brimbecom spoke of the need to incorporate faith and spirituality into health and wellness ministry, something which is missing in today s standard health care because bringing faith into workplaces is often seen as abusive or proselytizing. In parish nursing we can freely administer to the whole person body, mind, and spirit, she noted. Nurses are best positioned to bridge the gap between medicine, science, and religion. And in parish nursing, you start with faith, focusing on practices that help, support, and nourish. Faith is a resource which we bring into the conversation. Describing the ministry as rooted in the vision of Christ as Healer, Brimbecom described parish nursing as growing out of the belief that all faith communities are places of health and healing and have a role in promoting wholeness through the integration of faith and health. The church is reclaiming the scriptural mandate to preach, teach, and heal, noted Brimbecom, adding this is part of God s desire for our abundant life and journey to wholeness and peace. Nurses are able to assess needs, provide teaching and support, and direct parishioners to resources and care providers. At the same time,

6 PAGE 6 the often-missing spiritual component of wellness can be integrated at a personal level, and supportive connections created and maintained, she said. Complex and unpredictable care needs that are missed by both traditional parish ministries and the health care system can be picked up on by this niche role. Brimbecom gave several examples of parishioners who were released from medical care without care plans in place, describing how advocacy or emergency measures were provided by the parish nurse, averting tragedies or unnecessary complications. Dr. Gail Brimbecom Healing means living life fully maybe not necessarily curing, but experiencing life s fullness, she noted, adding that maintaining community connections and eliminating isolation is also vital to healing. One elderly member of her parish was a founding member who had been with the church all her life, and eventually died peacefully at home after illness, still very connected with her parish and with a sense of belonging and being cherished. Parish nursing was the gift that the church could give her. Besides integrating spirituality and health, faith is understood by the parish nurse to be a resource for comfort and support. Health issues are understood within the concept of stewardship, and life is considered a gift. Referrals in both the parish and the wider community are available to the parish nurse, and when needs are identified, support groups or needed training and awareness can be initiated for the whole parish. Brimbecom listed potential services, including infant care and parenting support, grief and prayer ministry, respite care, prayer shawls, bullying prevention and support, and the sharing of resources through initiatives such as community gardens and kitchens, or book and audiotape sharing. Education, events and seminars provided by a parish nurse might include stress management, organic gardening, relationships, gambling or addictions, prayer and meditation, laughter as medicine, body image, and a wide range of health topics. A video at the end of her presentation stated each person is called to recognize the healing aspect of their own religious life, something Brimbecom also addressed at the outset by saying she particularly liked to see clergy listed in church bulletins as minister to the ministers implying a shared responsibility for parish ministry. The church needs to be at the table of addressing spiritual, physical, and socioeconomic aspects of the health of individuals and of communities, noted one narrator in video. As advocates, church members and most especially parish nurses can sustain Canada Health basics on a denominational and national basis, and more importantly, step in where the system is dropping the ball.

7 PAGE 7 The Canadian Association of Parish Nursing Ministry Conference and Annual General Meeting was held May at the Parktown Conference Centre. Some 80 delegates from Canada and the US attended the event, which included workshops aimed at nurses, clergy, and laity. Parish Nurse Mary Lyle from Oshawa has been involved in parish nursing ministry for nine years, seven of them as a nurse. She began by volunteering with the health cabinet, whose job it is to support the parish nurses in active ministry through planning, implementation, and advocacy. I most enjoy working with some of the street outreach programs, Lyle said, adding that the dimension of parish care as well as support parish nursing brings to parishioners is incredibly rewarding. -30-