Transforming Chaplaincy Co-Director George Fitchett co-edits special case study issue of Health and Social Care Chaplaincy

A special issue of Health and Social Care Chaplaincy on case studies in the field has been co-edited by George Fitchett, Co-Director of Transforming Chaplaincy and Professor of Religion, Health and Human Values at Rush University, and Steve Nolan, Chaplain at Princess Alice Hospice and Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Winchester. Fitchett and Nolan also co-authored the introduction to the issue.

Fitchett and Nolan note that “chaplaincy is in transition,” driven by evolving Western attitudes vis-a-vis religion and “the economics of modern healthcare.” (167) Case studies, examples of which the issue includes from the Netherlands, Germany, and the first case study published from Australia, are especially useful in describing how modern chaplaincy is responding to these epochal shifts. Furthermore, they provide vivid illustrations of chaplaincy work for classroom use and offer other members of interdisciplinary healthcare teams and healthcare managers an attractive way of understanding just what it is chaplains do. (171-72)

“We’re very pleased to offer these case studies, both to our colleagues in research and up-and-coming chaplains, because even in their uniqueness they tell us so much about how chaplaincy is unfolding around the world,” said Fitchett. “I’m particularly gratified that we’ve been able to help publish some of the first case studies yet seen in specific contexts.” Nolan observed that the journal issue is plain evidence that the chaplaincy world is excited by this work, citing the highly positive response to the call for papers. “Almost thirty cases have now been published, and there is promise of more to come,” he said, and drew particular attention to new developments in ritual and care for LGBT patients.

This issue of Health and Social Care Chaplaincy is available at the journal’s website or through subscribing academic institutions.