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Learning About Spiritual Caregiving
We have found that patients, families and caregivers of all faiths
have special spiritual needs at critical life transitions.
These needs include (but are no limited to) counseling, prayer, vigil,
rights and rituals.Often just the presence of a member of the faith
community can be of tremendous comfort.
In addition to the personal comfort provided by religious/spiritual
rituals, there is a special cultural context
for public gathering at life transitions.
You will find some of this material covered in this section.
You will also find some this this material in its own special
section called Services.
Another function which you may find discused in various sections
in addition to spiritual caregiving is life reviews -- sometimes
called "Life Story Telling." While this may have a strong spiritual
component it also has a definite therapeutic component and
social component. Hence you'll see it peppered about in these pages.
Spiritual readings and prayers are performed by many different
traditions. In these pages we strive to give exposure to those traditions
which might otherwise be under-represented. The Catholic church has a
wealth of involvement in the field of death and dying. However, it might
be a little overwhelming to attempt a comprehensive listing of churches
and other Catholic organizations involved in end of life services.
We rely upon the many excellent web references for this. Here we shall
give a voice to alternatives which may otherwise go unnoticed.
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