Chaplain on the front lines of COVID spiritual care
GREENWICH — Like many who are offering care, healing and compassion to those stricken with COVID-19, the Rev. Christopher Johnson has been a very busy man in 2020.
“This is for me, not only the busiest year, but the most stressful. But it is rewarding in a sense,” the Catholic priest recalled on a recent break from his duties as a chaplain at Greenwich Hospital. “The nurses are working so hard, they’re also stressed, but we’re able to endure and get things done. ... For all of us, it’s been a stressful time.”
Among the most common issues that arise when a person dies of COVID-19 is a sense of guilt among family members, Johnson said. “What I hear from many family members, they feel guilty they’re not able to be with their loved ones. I tell them they don’t have to feel guilty – you love the person, and they know that you love them, and they understand that,” he said.
The coronavirus pandemic has created new kinds of challenges for clergy who are attending to the religious and spiritual needs of patients. The upclose and personal ways that chaplains once used to tend to patients on their sick beds has given way to new flexibility and innovative uses of technology.
Like other chaplains around the country, Johnson has had to adapt the age-old sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church, including the rituals intended to prepare a person for death commonly referred to as the Last Rites, in the presence of a highly infectious disease.
Most of the rituals that Johnson has performed for
dying patients, which include the anointing of the sick and the prayer of commendation of the dying, have been done remotely with a camera. Johnson has also performed the ritual in person on a handful of occasions, as well, wearing full protective equipment.
“The Sacraments are to be physically administered. Oil is to be applied, the Eucharist is to be given. But with COVID, we were not able to go physically to most patients,” the priest said.
A decision by church leaders in March 2019 changed the procedures for the Last Rites, permitting
services to be held through teleconferencing, as well as offering forgiveness from sin for coronavirus patients. Johnson said the process has been working well, and the technological solutions to the dilemmas posed by the virus have offered meaning and dignity during the final hours of a patient’s life.
“All the families are really grateful. With multiple people being able to watch, we didn’t feel a sense of absence,” he said. “In most cases, the patients and family were very accepting.”
Johnson, who has been the priest in residence at
St. Agnes Church in Greenwich, found that that the role of chaplain was a calling that truly appealed to him.
“When I started my clinical training, I was working as an associate pastor, I wanted to get some skills, to work in a hospital setting. After I working here, I found this was the place where people who are in the most vulnerable or powerless situation, they need someone to talk to and someone to listen to,” he said. “In a special way, they want a kind of feeling, affirmation, and I found this ministry very interesting, and also
very positive and fulfilling for me.”
The path to becoming a hospital chaplain is not an easy one. It requires months of study and 300 hours of work in a hospital. Chaplains need a strong grounding in medical terminology and procedures so they can offer meaningful guidance and counseling for patients and family. Greenwich Hospital is one of the few institutions in the region that trains chaplains through an internship program. The Department of Spiritual Care and Pastoral Education there has three full time staff, along with parttime and per-diem staffers.
Along with his divinity training, Johnson also earned master’s degrees in psychology and in philosophy. And though he is specifically tasked with ministering to Catholic patients at the hospital, he says he’s happy to offer counseling and a friendly hearing to patients and family member of any faith tradition, as well as to non-believers.
The work is demanding, as Johnson can attest. Part of the training for chaplains educates them on ways to avoid being overwhelmed by the job. The Greenwich priest says he takes time regularly for walks and fresh air to clear his head. Prayer, meditation and yoga techniques are also part of his weekly routine. A native of India, where there is a large Catholic community, Johnson said he also found solace in talking with colleagues and fellow clergy, “sharing our struggles.”
The religious and spiritual workers on the front lines of the pandemic have been forced into new roles, according to a lecturer at the Harvard Divinity School, Cheryl Giles.
“The need for physical distancing has produced a learning curve in how to do the work of chaplaincy during our present pandemic,” she noted in a recent commentary. But the remote services could still offer great benefits and comforts, “a kind of artistry through technology.”
Johnson feels he’s been able to have a deep impact on those he has counseled and prayed with as the hour of death approaches. “In the Catholic tradition, these sacraments are really important,” he said, “And it is truly rewarding.”