More on the Clericals

I have been wearing my collar, in case anyone is wondering, and I am tempted to keep doing this. There are distinct disadvantages, I know. But it helps in a number of ways.

For one, I am immediately recognizable. Consider me in my environment: I'm a guy in a wheelchair in a hospital, and even in regular clothes, I must look a lot like a patient. But as I have grown into my new priesthood, I have begun to realize that in clericals I am seen first as priest, then as a person in a wheelchair. This has caused its own twists of perception, for me and the people around me. But in the hospital, if I can be perceived first as a religious professional, especially to the other health-care professionals, this will be to my benefit because I will be thought of as a chaplain in a chair rather than that guy in the chair who is also a chaplain. When I did my first unit of chaplaincy a couple of years ago, I had a hard time with staff remembering me as a chaplain, referring me to patients, and referring patients to me. I now wonder if this dynamic contributed to this problem.

The second advantage is that there is no bones about why I am in the room with a patient: I am there as a chaplain, as a religious person. This can go both ways, as some of you have pointed out. It might make me less approachable. But not yet. It has, instead, with folks who self-proclaim to be hostile to religion, made the starting terms of the discussion apparent. People immediately perceive my religious committments, and this has begun discussion rather than limited it. I think this might be because, in clericals and a chair, I present as such an enigma that inter-personal barriers fall due to simple curiosity.

All said, I have just started. Time will tell what is best. I hope to remember that each decision I make should be in the service of the patient, not my ego or some abstract sense of identity. If I can remember that I am first a servant, and second a priest, this will serve us all well.