Recognizing spiritual health as a critical component of whole-person care, we are a passionate voice and resource for spiritual care, seeking to maintain the highest quality of care by the chaplains who serve Jesus’ healing ministry within our member ministries. CHA advocates for adequate staffing to ensure the sacramental and spiritual needs of patients and staff are addressed. We consult with our members through advisory councils and board-certifying groups to address innovations and gaps that will better serve patients, families and co-workers.
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Spiritual/Pastoral Care Articles
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AprilIn recent years, changing roles and responsibilities within CHA’s sponsorship and mission services department and the addition of new team members has brought fresh perspectives to that department’s work. -
October 2024Five African nuns bring spirit of joy, compassion to their work at southeast Missouri's Saint Francis
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September 2024Catholic association equips parishes nationwide to aid people with mental illness
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June 2024Cardinal McElroy poses four questions for Catholic health care from synod
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May 2024People Matter, Words Matter campaign takes stigmatizing language out of conversations
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Spring 2025Supporting Patients and Their Loved Ones Coping With Serious or Terminal Illness
Chaka Brittain's mother used to bring her along on her visits to terminally ill people in her community. "My mom was somewhat of a death doula, if you would," she said. "I remember even as a young girl going to people's houses, and they were dying. She'd come in and sit with them and stay with them until they had 'gone to glory.'" -
Spring 2025The Unique Needs of Vowed Religious Elders in Long-Term Care
Growing old is not for the faint of heart, nor is caring for frail elders. This is particularly true when one is caring for retired sisters, priests and brothers who have lived lives vowed to God and service. Their unique perspectives on life, the sacrifices and adventures experienced during their ministries, and the challenges of living a vowed religious life deserve special efforts to ensure a high quality of life and enjoyment in their later years. -
Summer 2024Striving for Spiritual Wholeness When Caring for Patients
As a Catholic health ministry, we are called to the sacred work of caring for those who are acutely sick, seriously injured or facing a significant life transition. These realities challenge, shape and potentially transform the spirituality of those receiving and providing care. -
Spring 2024The Eucharist, Imagined and Real
There is an often-told story about a little boy who wakes up in the middle of the night from flashing lightning and booming thunder, terrified and crying out for his dad. His dad comes in and reassures him, "God is always here to take care of you." Clinging on to his father, the boy blurts out, "But Dad, I need a God with skin on." -
Fall 2023Caring for the Transgender Patient: Lessons for Pastoral and Spiritual Care
Gender has received a great deal of attention in the past 10 years. Hardly a day goes by that there is not a media report on the clinical, legal and ethical aspects of the transgender experience. All of these come together — or not — in the political blender where, on one hand, trans people are used as an icon of individual civil rights, or, on the other hand, as an example of moral and spiritual decline.
Season 5: Episode 5 - Spiritual Care and Emerging Technology
Emerging technologies can help health care providers with a multitude of daily tasks from efficient data processing to helping doctors with bedside conversations. But can it be used in the realm of spiritual care and whole person care?
Theresa Edmonson, Vice President of Spiritual Health for Providence St. Joseph Health, and Antonina Olszewski, Vice President of Spiritual Care for Mission Integration at Ascension, join the show to discuss the latest trends in technology and spiritual care. The two highlight the recent work of CHA’s Spiritual Care Advisory Council, explain why they feel hopeful about the future of AI in spiritual care settings, and reflect on how the foundresses and founders of Catholic health care can inspire us as we move boldly into the future.
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Spiritual care is not unique to Catholic hospitals and nursing homes, but it is integral to their identity. Catholic teaching lifts the importance of honoring the whole person — both body and spirit — seeing the two as integrally connected. It would be impossible for us to offer Catholic health care without dedicating colleagues to spiritual care. They go by many different names — chaplains, pastoral caregivers, spiritual companions and more. Most are professionals who've prepared for their ministry with years of study and certification. Others are generous volunteers from the local community. All help us to fulfill our mission in an explicit way. And today we give thanks for their presence in our midst.
— Excerpted from A Prayer for Spiritual Caregivers