Wednesday, July 23, 2008

The Collar

Just something that I noticed when I started the whole Chaplain gig here in Grand Forks but haven’t blogged about yet. Some people, especially Midwestern Lutherans, don’t like the collar. Essentially they think it’s too Catholic, though they express this feeling by mentioning the idea of the priesthood of all believers. To me the collar does have a certain symbolic import “my yolk is light” etc, but more importantly it functions as an easy identification of a religious figure for patients. If I wear my decent looking blue shirt I look like a janitor, if I wear a shirt with a tie patients assume I’m a doctor, but if I wear a collar they know why I’m wandering around the hospital. They sometimes call me “Father” or assume I’m a priest and I have to explain I’m protestant, but they have a good idea why I’m there.
So, the best way to deal with this I’ve found is to wear my light blue clerical. I’ve still got the little tab under my neck, but my clothing screams neither Papist nor Angel of Death (and make no mistake for a lot of patients clergy in the hospital are viewed as the Angel of Death), in fact the light blue seems to have a calming effect on the patients, or maybe it is a calming effect on me.
And that’s about all I know tonight. Time to go to bed, let’s hope no one

1 comment:

Chris Duckworth said...

Each place is different, of course, and Grand Forks is far afield from Philadelphia. But at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia I did not wear clerics. In a diverse setting such as a hospital, the clerics can inspire all kinds of feelings: good feelings to those whose clergy wear such clothing, but perhaps feelings of apprehension to other Christians, devout people of other religious traditions, or non-religious people. Though I never shied away from talking about my own tradition when asked about it by a patient, I did not want my religious garb to be the first impression someone had of me, owing to the possible hindrance or a point of confusion it could pose for patients. Though the collar would set me apart from doctors and other staff, I feel that it has other symbolism and meaning that would get in the way of my ministry.

You may be interested in reading a few of my reflections on pastoral identity in the hospital which I wrote while on my CPE Residency: 1 Thessalonians 2:8 (on the relationship between pastoral relationships and "religious" content of those relationships); and The Cross and Hospital Chaplaincy (on my decision not to wear a cross or collar as a hospital chaplain).