Katrina Scott, a Humanist, and Board Member of the Boston Ethical Society, will speak in Phillips Brooks House, Harvard Yard, on Sunday, September 21, 2008, at 1:30 PM. Four years ago she discovered the work that fulfills her life – she is the Oncology chaplain at Massachusetts General. A long time friend of the Humanist Association she was among the three finalists when the Humanist Chaplain’s position at Harvard opened up. Gradually, we have grown comfortable with the idea of Humanist university chaplains but how about hospital Humanist chaplains? Well, Katrina Scott forcefully answers that question.

She describes her pastoral care based “on a holistic approach to healing that acknowledges and respects the heart/mind relationship. I define spirit (naturally) as the vital force characterizing a person as being alive, our sense of self. The spiritual aspect of wellness includes personal beliefs, behavior principles, and methods to achieve peace of mind between our interior being and exterior influences. Within her own religious tradition (Ethical Culture), members are guided by a simple principle; by treating each person so as to bring out the best in her or him, we also work toward bringing out the best in ourselves.” She quotes Abraham Maslow and his humanistic stance on religious experience: “I want to demonstrate that spiritual values have naturalistic meaning, that they are not the exclusive possession of organized churches, that they do not need supernatural concepts to validate them, that they are well within the jurisdiction of a suitably enlarged science, and that therefore, they are the general responsibility of all mankind.” She will show us how this view fits into the traditionally theistic world of hospital chaplaincy, where “all good chaplains share the same values and goals; they want to walk with people through their suffering, to accompany them during a short blip in their life journey that is also possibly the worst, or the best, time. For me the last four years have been a formative period in my life, especially in my development as a chaplain whose personal religion is humanistic.”

She continues, “The more I reflect the more sure I am that my ability to be human is my strength. To accompany an injured person, to sit with a grieving spouse, to hold a son’s hand, to listen and hear their stories are gifts which have strengthened my ability to meet the patient where she or he is, to facilitate their search for meaning in times of trauma and loss.” We will want to ask her on September 21 how humanist values can be employed in caring for the ill, without resorting to prayer, to revelation, to an afterlife. How does she get along with the other chaplains and with the hospital administrators? And for the dying, is there comfort in a brave stoicism ? Plan on voicing your questions.