Panel: Chaplaincy to the ‘Nones’: Spiritual Care in an Increasingly Nonreligious America

UPDATE: Thank you to everyone for joining us at this exciting event! You can find a full recording of the program on the Tufts University Chaplaincy YouTube page. See you next time!

Americans identifying outside organized religion–atheists, Humanists, agnostics, the spiritual but not religious, the ‘Nones’–are on the rise, but so is the use of chaplaincy services for existential and spiritual support. How can chaplaincies that have historically served particular religious communities respond to the needs of the growing nonreligious and the changing religious landscape in America at large? A forum of renowned experts in chaplaincy work in a number of settings–including prisons, hospitals, and universities– will explore this topic at a dinner and panel discussion on how we can give care, build community, and listen meaningfully in the work of spiritual life to nonreligious Americans and their unique experiences.

Join us for our biggest event of the year in Goddard Chapel on April 21st at 6pm to share in this conversation and consider the changing nature of spirituality and spiritual care in America today. Dinner, vegetarian and vegan friendly, will be served at 6pm and the panel will begin at 6:45pm. Community members from all religious and philosophical backgrounds are encouraged to share in this exciting program with us.

Our panelists each bring unique perspectives and expertise to this conversation. We’ll be hearing from:

   Fleet Maull, MA, Founder of the Prison Mindfulness Project. Acharya Fleet Maull is an author, meditation teacher, executive coach, end-of-life educator, prison reform activist and peace worker. He founded Prison Mindfulness Institute in 1989 while serving a 14.5 year mandatory minimum sentence for drug trafficking (1985 – 1999). He also helped start the first inside prison hospice program in 1987 and provided daily care to dying prisoners for over 11 years. In 1991, he founded National Prison Hospice Association, launching a movement that now includes hospice programs in over 75 state and federal prisons. Fleet is an Acharya (senior Dharma teacher) in the international Shambhala Buddhist Community and a Sensei (senior Zen teacher) in the international Zen Peacemaker Order.

Katrina Scott, MDiv, Oncology Chaplain at Massachusetts General Hospital. Katrina Scott has been a member of the Massachusetts General Hospital Chaplaincy Department since 2003, first as a per diem chaplain while attending seminary (MDiv, Harvard 2005) and currently serving as Palliative Care Chaplaincy Liaison and Oncology Chaplain (2006). Her area of concentration in graduate school was Pastoral Counseling and Ethics, with special emphasis on establishing a holistic ministry of healing that acknowledges and respects the heart/mind/spirit relationship. Katrina is an Officiant of the Ethical Society of Boston and board certified by the Association of Professional Chaplains (BCC, 2008) and holds Specialty Certification in Hospice/Palliative Care (HPCC, 2014).

Rev. Mary Martha Thiel, Director of Clinical Pastoral Education at Hebrew SeniorLife. Mary Martha Thiel is Director of Clinical Pastoral Education at Hebrew SeniorLife, an ordained UCC minister, a Board Certified Chaplain, and a CPE Supervisor. At Massachusetts General Hospital, she helped create a CPE program for helping healthcare professionals integrate spiritual caregiving into the practice of their own disciplines, and at Boston Children’s Hospital teaches in the Spiritual Generalist program for non-chaplain clinicians. A Pastoral Study Grant from The Louisville Institute allowed her to focus on her interest in spiritual care of secular persons.

Chris Stedman, MAR, Executive Director of the Yale Humanist Community. Chris Stedman is a Fellow of Davenport College at Yale University and Executive Director of the Yale Humanist Community. Previously a Humanist chaplain at Harvard University, he is the author of Faitheist: How an Atheist Found Common Ground with the Religious. A Contributing Editor at Religion News Service and advisor to Religion Dispatches, Chris is a committed Humanist and interfaith activist and previously served as the co-founder and Emeritus Managing Director of State of Formation at the Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue, as the atheist columnist for RNS, and as a Content Developer and Adjunct Trainer for Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC).

We encourage you to RSVP and invite your friends via the Facebook event page. See you there!