Whites, Latinos and Racism.

Introduction: The Identity, Power and Difference class was one of the most wonderful experiences in Iliff because we had the opportunity to talk about many topics that deeply relate to me. My teachers, classmates, the content of the class, my own experience worked together to make this class a valuable experience and helped me to clarify my thinking and future perspective. I say this because one of my goals is to write a book discussing racism, diversity and inclusiveness in the context of the United Methodist Church.

I am Latino and as a Latino I would like to analyze all the themes we had in class from a Latino perspective. I believe that the United States is in a transition time. According to the census, and the demographics of the United States, the Latinos are the biggest minority in the United States, with a population close to 53 million, without the Latinos that didn’t want to be counted. I think for 2020, the Latino population could reach 65 millions. I remember the movie “A day without a Mexican” and all the struggles and problems created because all Mexicans disappeared in the same time. It is a movie, just a movie, but what would happen if it became true?   

This class’ experience talking about identity, racism, power, oppression, marginalization, whiteness, dominant group, differences, and discuss what we can do, was a wonderful experience because we saw the different perspectives of people different that me, different in language, skin color and background.  

1. Latinos looking for a community at the United States. If I begin this essay talking about my identity I would say: “I am a Latino man and Methodist”. Yeah I know I could say more describing myself, as Mexican, Christian, middle class, heterosexual, etc. I define myself according my beliefs, social location, cultural background and my own perspectives. But I know that others have their own concept about my identity because they see our differences, language, skin color, etc. Instead of all these things, I am happy identifying myself in that way and I am proud to be a Latino.

Since long time ago (centuries!), the Latinos have been here in this land, before it was the United States. We have been creating our own communities and bringing our culture to the place where we are living. Culture is part of the Latino community. I know, we have Latinos that only speak English, but in their blood there are our roots, culture and identity. The new generations of Latinos speak Spanish, and many are bilingual or trilingual because they speak English, Spanish and Spanglish or Chicano (a mix between Spanish and English).

Since the Latinos arrived to this country we found that this land was in the hands of few people, as teachers mentioned in class: “in 1970, the 10% of population of this country had the 40% of properties, and in 2004, the 10% of population had the 70% of properties.” Today, for the economy we could say that the poor are poorer and the rich richer. Latinos for decades have been considered poor in this country and we have not had access to education, training, due to a lack in language skills, education and legal status. Despite all these things, Latinos have been here in this country and we will continue look for better opportunities and open doors, or at least an open window to show who we are.

2. United States, a story filled with racism. One point that attracted my attention during the class, inclusive before the class days, were the videos called "The House We Live In" because those videos opened my eyes to one point I have known but for my own peace, forgot the racism problems lived in this country since a long time ago.

Since the east coast was colonized, this land has been stained with blood; much blood spilled for racial prejudices. We have had other types of conflicts involving the slaves (the civil war), religion, social status, or ideologies. But the worse has been all the racial problems we have encountered with the discrimination of people for their skin color or language or manners.

These last years our United Methodist Church have tried to pay or compensate all the damage done to the native American tribes by the early colonizers and settlers. Our church made this act of justice, in name of our country; but it only showed the damage done few centuries ago that still hurt the lives of our Native American brothers and sisters.

We can talk deeply the content of the videos "The House We Live In" and highlight all the damage done to our Asian Americans and African Americans. Also, we can talk about Martin Luther King and the struggle for the rights of black people. In this topic I recognize that I myself have problems describing the struggles of the African American people, I am not sure how things can better for them, but they suffered for their skin color, they were discriminated and marginalized in the last century. I remember many videos and books talking about Martin Luther King and the riots and demonstrations in relation to the “black power”. And today, I believe that Latinos will have the same claim because one day will have the keys in our own hands.

3. Whites in the first class. Talking again about the videos of "The House We Live In", I had any questions that weren’t answered: Why the White people were emphasizing their whiteness and using it to support racism against the African American people, if they have been in this country since it was settled? Why African Americans were included in the US Army but weren’t accepted as part of the White society? Why society gave a big value to the White people properties and least value to the African American properties? The Latinos have been treated in the same way!

We have growth in a whiteness society where White people have been superior people only for their skin color. They have received privileges in many ways. They have received unearned benefits that raise from the effect those social structures and systems are defined in such a way that defines the norm. They are the best! Whites have been the dominant culture and have dominated everyone around them, inside the country and outside.

White people have built this country and have been in charge of the most important places and position of this country. In fact Barack Obama is the first US President that was not white, but it has been the exception to the rule. The main roles and important position are in hands of White people. These White people have created the laws and built the society. The social structures and justice system, everything was created for the White people; that is the reason because they are the privileged class of this society.

4. Latinos, the lower class. We are living in a country with large diversity, we have many different people around us, people from different countries, people with different skin colors, different languages, different genders, and different ages, etc. and all these difference enrich our community; despite this diversity, we have one thing in common: the whiteness dominance. African Americans, Asians, Latinos, etc., all we see how the Whites are in the main positions and roles of our society. Only they have the power to decide because they are the dominant group, and are superior to other racial groups. They have created the Capitalism and the others suffer consequences of it: greed, consumerism, advertising plus media, ignorance, denial, racism, abuses in many areas, inequality, exploitation of workers, anxiety, dehumanization, bad habits, genocides, slavery, destruction and other types of oppressions. 

The sadness of this situation is that in all the differences established by the Whites, the Latinos are in the lowest position of this social status. Latinos are in the worse situation for many reasons: Many of Latinos doesn’t have papers, legal papers as Social Security numbers or legal residence, many of them don’t know the language and speak only Spanish, or don’t have the opportunities of the Whites, and consequently live in this country with many disadvantages because they just arrived from their countries. The truth is, Latinos represent the lowest position in the American society.

Other disadvantage against Latinos is their background. The countries in Latin America, Mexico included, are living in the poverty, so many people from these countries comes to the United States looking for a better life. The fact to be here in this country is a better life! Many of the Latinos are happy if they send money to their families that are living in their home country, while they are living here at this country, don’t matter the conditions how they are living here. They don’t have more dreams, or would like something different, just that!  They don’t have more dreams or covet something else. Inclusive, any of them have a low self-esteem and live avoiding people, hidden, in private places with bad conditions, in secure places where the “migra” could not catch them! And, I forgot to say they have the lowest salaries and the worse jobs, those jobs that no one wants!

5. Whiteness oppression. White people have showed their dominance in different ways and forms. As the dominant group they are defining the differences, the laws, the culture where the other people have to live, they have the control of everything. They establish the rules of the game and only they are in charge of everything. When some one else, different than them or that don’t belong to their social status wants to go in the power or to their places, they find the door closed or find a large list of requirements or complicated processes and many of them give up their attempt.

The whiteness prototype is a white Christian male and heterosexual. This man is considered the ideal figure for our society, a Christian society! If there are people outside of all these characteristics, they are not viewed in a positive way, don’t matter if they are men, or Christians, or heterosexual, or White. Also, the economy and the political situations have been established according the benefits of Whites. Also, I mentioned Christians, because this country was founded for Christians and the first president was Christian. This is the culture established by whiteness. Obviously, Today Barack Obama is the exception!

Women, homosexuals, non-Christians, and people from other races are considered less fortunate people. I want to include something else here, people that don’t speak English. Yes, language is part of the whiteness oppression! So, if we take all these negative characteristics and find the worst in the whiteness system, this person would be: a woman, non-white, lesbian, non-Christian, and speaking a different language! This woman could be a Latina, or an African American woman. White women have to fight against the machismo of the White men when they are looking for a better job. In all these situations, the Latinos are considered the worst minority here in the United States.

6. Recognizing and naming oppression. Latinos and other ethnic minorities have suffered the abuses and consequences of the white’s mistakes. Mainly as Latinos, we have suffered violence, exploitation, marginalization, powerlessness, and cultural imperialism.

Whites have violated our lives in a systematic way. Latinos and Latinas, our language, our manners and culture have been violated many times for the whiteness. We have had to move all our traditions and give the first place to the system established by the Whites, and obviously, this system enables, tolerates and perpetuates the violence that Latinos are suffering under that system.

  Many Latinos suffer exploitation in their jobs because their employers pay them less than the minimum salary. The Latino employees because they don’t know the language and their rights, they accept the payment. The worst of this situation is that Latinos continue working in that condition because many of them are threatened that they will be deported for immigration if they say anything about it to someone else.

As we see in class, marginalization is not to be hated it just excludes a person or a group that we don’t want in our own level or status. According to this meaning, Latinos have been marginalized in the system created for the White people. Latinos have been avoided, and now we are outside of the system, out of sight and out of mind. The best roles and position are for the Whites and the Latinos are working as housekeepers, plumbers, bricklayers, washing dishes and other jobs that Whites avoid.

As I mentioned before, Latinos are the biggest minority of this country, so, we are a minority! This system or democracy created by the whiteness, in words give us a place but in fact, pushes us to the last place. As Latinos we don’t have power, the system has stolen our identity and have taken away our liberty of talking. We don’t have political power. As Latinos we have been powerlessness and working in silence.

Withouts doubt, Latinos have been living in a cultural imperialism under the dictatorship of the whites. In other words, we have been slaves to the system. We don’t have chains as our African American brothers had centuries ago, our situaion is worse because the chains are in our minds. Many Latinos lives out the statement: “ I cannot do it”, or lives in the misery of their convenience, or numb to the pain with which we live. It is time for Latino people wake up and open our mouths!

7. What can we do? For the Latino people, It is time to recognize our oppression and give it a name. We have been very polite in the system where we are living. I think today is the time to awaken from our lethargy and passivity. The first thing we need to do is recognize our situation, recognize our conditions, and see our poverty; because is a literal poverty, a real poverty that reflect our thoughts and minds, the poverty we have inner of us. In my country we have a very popular saying: “The worst blind is the one who does not want to see!” And that is the condition of my people, the Latinos.

I remember a practice we had in class where everyone shared experiences, problems or past situations that have hindered our abilities to be happy or to be free. At least we spoke our problems or situation that stopped us walking in the past. This act brought a healing to our lives. For any of us, we talked about things that no one knew about our lives, but those things were still inside of us hurting our lives. In my personal situation, that helped me to start a better relationship with all of my classmates. Personally believe the Latinos need to start to talking, just stell about the situations we are living in our jobs, or with our employers, or with our landlords; but this beginning in itself will bring a healing that we need as a Latino community.

As Latinos we need to join together and fight for a common cause, and we need to be together as one. We have to do something and listening the stories of others, it is the beginning. We need to break the paradigms against Latinos. We need to take risk and show up, breaking the silence. We need to be constructive and show that we can do it!

Alan Johnson says in his book Privilege, Power and Difference “The more you pay attention to privilege and oppression, the most you’ll see opportunities to do something about them. You don’t have to mount an expedition to find those opportunities; they’re all over the place, beginning in your self” (p. 157). Personally I felt very impacted for these words because when we see this racism we are receiving the responsibility to do something. Many people see the problems but don’t want to be part of the solution, or don’t want more problems or are living in other dimension farther than our reality as Latino people. We need to do something as Latinos and each of us we need to start in the place where we are living.

Conclusion: I don’t know what will be my grade fro this class, either I don’t know if I was just dreaming. Maybe, for you or for many people, I am asking too much! But I have a dream, as Martin Luther King Jr. said it many times: “I have a dream, that one day my children will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by their character” (I think is not a literal quotation). So, in the same way, I have the same dream, but applied this time to my Latino people. God has blessed me and I have a position in my Annual Conference. I am one of the two Ordained ministers of the new Great Plains Annual Conference and my desire is to fight in favor of the Latino community. As Mary Daly mentioned in her books “I don’t want to be quiet anymore!”. I recognize my place and accountability and I belief it’s the time to open our mouths!

Pastoral Care and the parents who have lost a baby.

INTRODUCTION: Richard Osmer in his book Practical Theology: An Introduction is talking about a bad experience when he was starting his ministry and trying to implement a Sunday school program (pp. 3-5). He didn’t know the importance of the Practical Theology and didn’t have any problems and mistakes in those years. This is a wonderful example about what happens if we don’t know what the importance of practical theology. Pastors, churches, faith communities and everyone involved in religion, all of us we are all related to practical theology in one way or other, wanting or not wanting, because practical theology is related to the all areas of ministry.

In this essay I want to talk about the pastoral care required to minister to the lives of those who have lost a baby, an expected baby with anxious anticipation and love, but they don’t receive the baby. So, we are going to apply pastoral theology in an area apparently outside of church, but related to the pastoral care. This pastoral care is given everywhere it is required: churches, hospitals, army, schools, factories, communities, etc.

The idea is to apply a method where we start with a specific theological concern or question or problem. The idea here is to describe the practice and make a reflection about this practice. Then, we need to see what resources are available to us and see how we can solve this concern. The last step in this method is to make a conversation between this practice and all the resources available, and then, see how we arrive at practical resolutions or actions to solve this concern.  

1 THEOLOGICAL QUESTION:

The theological question and concern I have identified is about the pain I have seen in many people when they have lost a beloved being, relative or friend. As Pastor I have been close to many people that have lost a family member, relative or a friend. Pastors, church members, friends, job partners, and other people, all of us, we are close to the people who had the lost someone, but what happens after the funeral? Does the suffering of these people finish with the funeral? How long is their mourning time and grief? How long will there be suffering? When will suffer finish?

Working in a hospital, many times, I saw a lot of mothers crying because they lost their babies and experienced a big suffering. In that time, my work as chaplain was to pray for the people there, mainly to take care of my unit, and fill out a paper form for our statistics, talking about all the people we served and how we did it. After that, we let the people return home and we never see them again. I have other questions here: Did their suffering go away when I prayed for them? What happened when they returned to their homes? Did their suffering disappear or is it still with them? Did I do my work when I prayed for them? Or do they need more help and support, now that they are home?

When I was thinking about the situation of these mothers and their husbands that lost their babies, and in all the suffering and struggles they have after they were released from the hospital. I decided these situations apparently aren’t my responsibility, but they continue suffering and as chaplains we are not there, to help them to ease the pain. This situation opened my eyes to another world. It is the world of the suffering, the world of the people that have had misfortunes and need more help and comfort than we could imagine. Inclusive this situation has many theological concerns: Is our work as caregivers finished when we pray for the people in the hospital? Does their suffering end when we pray for them? How long is the period of mourning and grieving? As chaplains, do we take pastoral care to the home where they live? How does suffering change their lives? When does pastoral care end? Also, if we think of the babies, why did the people lose their babies? Why did they die? Where is God in those moments? 

The idea of this paper, my theological question and concern is to talk deeply about the pastoral care given to the parents who have had a stillborn baby or the death of a newborn baby or a miscarriage (involuntarily abortion). Many Hospitals have special programs for the care of babies, but what about the parents who lose their babies? Do we give them pastoral care when they have been released from the hospital? What are their needs? Are there any follow-ups when they leave the hospital? Etc. The truth is that these people don’t receive spiritual support and care when they have been released from the hospital. There are a lot of questions related to this situation, but the focus of my theological concern is about the care that the parents and mothers have not received after they left the hospital.

2 DESCRIBE CURRENT PRAXIS:

I am reminded of the time when I was Chaplain in the Parkland Medical Hospital of Dallas TX, for a year, and each Friday I was the only chaplain in the hospital for 8 hours, between 3pm thru 11pm. At the beginning I thought everything was good because I enjoyed my time over there. After a few weeks, I began to see all the situations in the newborn Unit. When we had any newborn, all was happiness, but when we lost someone, I had to be there and console the parents, comfort and pray for them. Many times I see the pain of a mother that had a stillborn baby, other times they lost their baby in an involuntarily abortion or miscarriage.

At this point I think it is important to clarify that I am not talking about the voluntary abortion. Abortion is a legal right that women have to stop their pregnancy voluntarily, I am talking about the involuntarily abortion, or as a miscarriage. I found an Internet definition:

“Miscarriage or spontaneous abortion is the spontaneous end of a pregnancy at a stage where the embryo or fetus is incapable of surviving independently. Miscarriage is the most common complication of early pregnancy. Spontaneous abortion is a frequently used clarification to distinguish this natural process from an induced abortion” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miscarriage). 

In my paper, I will be talking about the spontaneous abortion or miscarriage because the focus of this paper is related to the suffering or pain of the parents that had a stillborn or lost their newborn babies or premature babies, also called embryos or fetuses. I respect a woman’s decision or the parent decision, if the abortion was decided for both male and female, but at this point she or they are deciding on an abortion. Yes, there is pain in this situation, but it doesn’t compare with the pain and suffering of a woman or parent who are anxiously expecting their baby, and it doesn’t come, doesn’t arrive!  For that reason I will be talking only about the spontaneous abortion, also called miscarriage.

3. CRITICAL REFLECTION ON CURRENT PRAXIS:

I am talking about my experience as Chaplain in the Parkland Medical Center in Dallas TX, the General Hospital of that big city. Each hospital has an important place in a city because the people in need arrive to these places looking for healing. I saw that a hospital never sleep, because there is always movement in each Hospital. Doctors and nurses are very involved in their responsibilities and there are a lot of people in the hospital, including patients and their families. Also, much of the time there is no contact between doctors or nurses with the patients or their families. The reason is because a chaplain has a big responsibility because he is in the middle between medical workers and patients and their families.

Most of the hospitals have a Pastoral Care Department, or Pastoral Care Unit or office and through this office they offer pastoral care or spiritual support to all the patients and their families. Also, there is a chapel. It is a place similar to a Temple, sanctuary or cathedral, a spiritual place, where people could go with desire to spend time praying, or meditating or in the presence of his/her/their God, gods or themselves. Patients cannot go to these places but the chaplains visit them.  The relatives, families, or friends have the liberty to go and look for the spiritual support they need in those moments.  

Chaplains are the caregivers in the hospital. Talking about spirituality and support, chaplains have a big responsibility in the healing of the people. This area is under practical theology and people develop it with a rich spirituality. It doesn’t matter which religious tradition or denomination, they always will have people in the hospitals requiring spiritual support. Different beliefs and religious traditions are present in the life of a hospital and chaplains have the responsibility to minister to each person according their needs respecting their religion and spiritual practices.

The death of babies or people doesn’t respect religious traditions, ages, skin color or languages. The death of the babies is a cruel reality in the hospital and we have mothers and parent suffering for it. There are many theological implications in the death of babies, because a baby means happiness and hope for a mother and parents. Parents, mothers and husbands are anxiously expecting the arrival of the baby, and in this situation the baby doesn’t arrive because there were problems that were unexpected.

A pregnancy could be a difficult time for many women or couples, but the worse comes when they lose their baby. Many times there are problems since the first month, other times the problems arrive at the end of pregnancy, and in any of the cases they lose the babies before their birth or when it is born. This is a tragedy for the parents, mainly for the mothers. After the death of the baby, parents or mothers have to spend a short time in the hospital and prepare the funeral of their baby. This time in the hospital becomes one of the worst experiences of their lives. This is when the chaplains have to be present and give the help and support required for that situation. Parents that have lost a child unexpectedly need significant pastoral care to assist with grieving and support.

4 IDENTIFYING AND UTILIZING RESOURCES:

I will be talking about the resources available for the analysis, study, and the necessary solutions to this concern related to a practical theology situation. There are many kinds of resources: human resources, facilities, programs, spiritual o religious resources, etc. but I want focus my attention only in the next resources available for this praxis: Hospitals, Pastoral care departments, chaplains, families and relatives, churches, groups of support, sacred places and its leaders.

Hospitals are the place where many things happen. Many people arrive there with crisis, sickness, health problems, accidents, and with them arrive family members, relatives, or friends to accompany them in those moments. Yes, hospitals are meeting the medical needs of all the people, but also, they are doing more things. We cannot generalize, but most of the hospitals have an office for financial aid, they have translators, social workers, special support and help with nurses and other people. Also there are special programs in different areas, and many hospitals have a unit, office or department of Pastoral Care or Chaplaincy. This proves that hospitals are not only interested in the medical area, they also are interested in the complete healing of the patients.     

Many hospitals have a unit of Pastoral Care with many chaplains or caregivers of different religious traditions. All these chaplains or caregivers are ready to give the pastoral care and spiritual support to all the people inside of hospital. Chaplains have the responsibility to visit the people of each unit and see what are the needs of the people; also, they are there to help and support the people in their spiritual needs. Many of these people will die, and before they die they will require a lot of attention and support, as well as their families, who are suffering together with their sick people. Doesn’t matter what’s happening with the people, chaplains are there because they are a resource offered for the hospitals.

Many hospitals have a special program called Hospice, where they are offering care to people who are dying or are without hope or are hopeless for the medicine and doctors. The patients in this unit spend their last days of their life in that hospice unit or floor in intensive care. These people are dying and need care and their families need help and support. Hospitals through this program offer care to patient and their families in different ways. There are many hospitals that offer the pastoral care even when the patient could return home. Nurses and chaplains go to their homes and give them the care and spiritual support that they need. They are receiving spiritual support in the middle of their pain and suffering, in hospital or home.

A patient’s family and relatives are other resources available in this case. These people are with their patients all the time inside the hospital to give them help and support and accompany them in their last moments. In the book by Esteban Montilla and Ferney Medina, “Pastoral Care and Counseling with Latinos/as: Creative Pastoral Care”, (although it is focused to the Latinos), has many ideas that could be applied in the pastoral care to everyone around us, doesn’t matter the race or skin color or language. Montilla says that the family, relatives, friends, etc. the community around the care-seeker or patient, each of them are a healing agent (p. 43). This point is important because family and community are important in the recovery of the people that have had a loss and are in a grieving time.

Churches and faith communities are another resource. We call them churches, congregations, groups of faith, sanctuary, shrines, chapel, etc. but these sacred places are called to be a light for all the people who are suffering.  Mothers and parents that have lost a baby need the spiritual support of their own congregations. Each church has different programs according its own needs and focus of ministry. In these communities also we have leaders: pastors, priests, preachers, etc. all of them are religious leaders and have the ability for counseling. Also there are professional counselors and other resources in the community where the churches are, such as: psychologist, social workers, programs in the community, etc.  

5 CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN CURRENT PRAXIS AND RESOURCES:

I believe that we need to unify all the resources available and work together in the pastoral care and support needed for the mothers and parent that have lost their babies. When you have had a traumatic experience in a hospital or the loss of someone you will need a long time for recovery. Christine Longaker in her book Facing Death and Finding Hope: A guide to the Emotional and Spiritual Care of the Dying, show us her experience after her husband died, as the hardest period of her life (p. 12). So, can we imagine the pain of a mother that has lost her baby? Hospitals, Pastoral Care Units, Chaplains, Churches, religious leaders, family and community, each of them have an important role in the recovery of those who have lost their babies.

Carrie Doehring in her book “The Practice of Pastoral Care: A Postmodern Approach”, she mention that as caregivers we need to interpret the care-seeker’s emotional state 9p. 39). This point is important when we are working as chaplains in a hospital. If a mother lost her baby, we need to see what it her emotional state is and if she needs more help! Yes, she is going to go home, but she is not ok, she needs help! What are we going to do? Also she talks about a psychological assessment that we have to do so we can find the type of loss and the phase of grief (p. 71) she is experiencing. Then we must make a plan of care (p. 133). In this plan, these mothers or parents require more interviews, inclusive after these women leave the hospital. So, we need to find ways to help them in their grieving.

Rebecca M. Radillo in her book Pastoral Care: Contextual and Comprehensive (*), She talks about the meaning of the pastoral care, the function of the pastoral care, and talks about pastoral care in crisis times (p. 83). These topics are important in the developing and recovering of these women and parents who have lost their babies. When they enter a crisis time, they will need the help and perspective of a professional in the counseling area.

It’s good to know that hospitals are willing to help those who have lost someone, but it’s necessary to still do more. Luz M. Rivera Miranda in her book Institutional Chaplaincy: Basic notions of Chaplaincy (*), she talks about the importance of a chaplain in the hospice program, not only with patience, also with the family (p. 104). We need more programs as extension of the hospital, outside, in the homes of the people who are suffering.

Hospice is a wonderful program and could give us any helps to create special programs for these mothers and parents whom have lost their babies. These parents or women that have lost their babies, receive support only in the hospital. As chaplains we go to visit our Unit and pray for them, and then, these people leave the hospital to their homes, and don’t receive any more spiritual support or pastoral care.  This is the big difference between these people who lost their babies and the people in the hospice units of the hospitals. People under hospice and their families could have a pastoral care in their homes, but the people that lost their babies don’t receive the same support, they just leave the hospital and go to their homes and no one remember their pain and suffering again! Suffering and pain that continues for long time

Families, relatives and friends are important resources for the recovery of these mothers and parents, but all of these people need to know how they can help. Something that chaplains do under the hospice program is train all the people around the patient, when they are at home, so all of them know how they can help in that environment outside of the hospital. This is an example of one of the things needed for these parents and mother that have lost their babies. They need a warm environment where everyone around them help in the recovery and involve them in the daily life, with the rest of the family, children, relatives, neighbors and friends. Many times they just need to accompany the people in grief, and that is too much. Julie Yarbrough said in her book Beyond the Broken Heart: A Journey Through Grief, these people show denial, frustration and isolation (p. 42).    

In the book “Practical Theology: An Introduction” by Richard R. Osmer, I found a quotation that caught my attention: “Pastoral care, thus, does more than offer healing, sustaining, and guiding to individuals in need ... Rather, it attends to the web of relationships and systems creating suffering through ministries of compassionate resistance, empowerment, nurturance, and liberation” (p. 16). If we believe this, then we need to do more that we have done. I think the hospitals, chaplains, caregivers and medical systems needs to do more that they have been doing. The people need more; people require more pastoral care and we have to be ready for do it.  

At the conclusion of my workshop I have two proposals or suggestions. I say suggestions because I am not involved in the chaplaincy anymore. The first proposal is the designation of a chaplain to visit homes and make follow up to families, persons or people who have the loss of someone. In this point, I am including the women or parent that lost their babies, so they could receive the spiritual support and pastoral care they are not receiving right now in their homes. Obviously, this requires arrangements and more responsibilities for chaplains. If this implementation were possible, these women and parents would have more relief from their pain and suffering.

The second proposal is, chaplains in the time when they are praying for the woman or parents, could ask them any information about their religious tradition, home church, denomination, etc. So, when the woman who lost her baby leaves hospital, the pastoral care unit could call the pastor, priest, or religious leader and give them the information of the woman or parent, and these religious leaders could give the follow up, ministering to their own people in the worse time for these people.

Bibliography: 

·               Doehring, Carrie. The Practice of Pastoral Care: A Postmodern Approach. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006.

·               Longaker, Christine Facing Death and Finding Hope: A guide to the Emotional and Spiritual Care of the Dying. London: Cox and Wyman, 1997.

·               Montilla, Esteban and Ferney Medina. Pastoral Care and Counseling with Latinos/as: Creative Pastoral Care. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2006.

·               Osmer, Richard R. Practical Theology: An Introduction. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2008.

·               Radillo, Rebeca M. Cuidado Pastoral: Contextual e Integral. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Libros Desafio, 2007. (* Pastoral Care: Contextual and Comprehensive by Rebeca M. Radillo). * Translated by Cesar M. Duran.

·               Rivera Miranda, Luz M. Capellania Institucional: Nociones basicas de la capellania. Serie Ministerio. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2010. (*Institutional Chaplaincy: Basic notions of Chaplaincy by Luz M. Rivera Miranda). * Translated by Cesar M. Duran.

·               Yarbrough, Julie. Beyond the broken heart: A journey through grief. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2012.

Duran week 10 journal reading Augustine and the controversy against Pelagians

While I was reading the controversy against the Pelagians, I was thinking in a boxing fight, or wrestling, or UFC fight, where Augustine and Pelagius were the fighters. Serious, I could imagine the movie Rocky because both looks were very popular, famous theologians and every body knows them. As Harmless said, “the two men shared a wide network of aristocratic friends” (p. 378).  Both of them had different origin, Augustine belonged to the low class and Pelagius was part of the Aristocracy. Augustine was a clergy and Pelagius was a lay; in spited of all these, bot of them were contemporaries and very popular, both of them were excellent philosopher and theologians and both were against the Manichest, and Donatists. All the things around them look that both could be good friends and be the heroes of that time, but not. As two boxing fighters, they were growing separated and arrived to the moment when they had to fight between themselves and see who is the best! 

Also, while I was reading more deeply about Pelagius and his doctrine I began to compare him with the tele-preachers of this twenty first century or with Norman Vincent Peale the father of the positive thinking, because he was offering a gospel where the men could decide exactly all that they want, or the future is in their hands, or they have the capacity to live without sin, etc. etc. Putting aside the historical data of the controversy against the Pelagians, I want to go directly to the topic I chose about the controversies between Augustine against Pelagius. Harmless said that: “Augustine wrote a detailed commentary, On the Deeds of Pelagius (De gestis Pelagii) trying to excuse his Palestinian colleagues and to analyze what he perceived as Pelagius’s evasiveness and deceptions” (pp.379-380).  

Pelagius wrote his treatise On Nature and Augustine wrote his treatise On Nature and Grace, and there, Augustine describing the Pelagians theology, Augustine talked about the Pelagian teaching about the “sinlessness must exist, at least as a rethorical possibility” (p. 400). Clearly Augustine wrote: “It is impossible for a human being to be without sin” (p. 400). The second point about Pelagius here is: “given his moral rigorism, was outraged by those who blamed the sin of Adam for human sinfulness. He insisted that we do not inherit original sin; we imitate the original sinners” (p. 401). Augustine talking about the sin of Adam said: “ Our nature has been weakened and changed through sin” (p. 402) Augustine also expanded this point talking against the Adam descendants as weaker as him. The last point here was “Pelagius argued for the possibility of salvation beyond the borders (whether temporal or geographical) of Christianity” (p. 402). Augustine argued that God in his justice will judge them according to their facts, “by living rightly, even though it has not been tinged with any faith in the Passion and Resurrection of Christ” (p. 402).

DuranCesar/Augustine Class/Reading Journal Week 8 “ Augustine and the Trinity”.

Augustine used any of analogies to try to explain the Trinity. I have chosen one of these analogies trying to identify how Augustine was viewing the Trinity. Augustine lived times with a lot of difficulties and theological changes. The theological environment of those times was living the results of the Arian controversy, the Council of Nicaea and the Council of Constantinople and Cappadocians. The teaching about Trinity had been one of theological controversies, the church had been divided and Augustine had to defend the Catholic faith; I said in that way because the church had been divided for the Donatists. So Augustine stood as one of the defenders of the Catholic faith; also, today many could call him the defender of the Christian faith.

I am Christian and I belief in the teaching of the Trinity. We are a monotheist church and we belief in one God: one savior that is Jesus Christ, and one Holy Spirit, the three of them are the Only One truly God. So we belief in the trinity, we have the God Father, His son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, that are one in essence. However, I think, this topic of the Trinity is one of the most controversial themes of the Christian faith, today and in the past. In the Augustine times there were a lot of problems around this topic because the Arian ideas were strong in that time. As Harmless said: “In the 350s, there evolved various competing theologies that were not Arian, but were anti-Nicene. Some anti-Nicene bishops were willing to speak of Christ as God, but in some lesser, derived sense, and they envisioned an unequal hierarchy within the God-head” (p. 276). The Nicene Creed supported the Trinity belief, and the looser were the Arians. So Augustine had to be a strong defender of the Trinity.

Augustine wrote a lot about Trinity: sermons, and his book “On the Trinity”. He wrote many analogies trying to explain the Trinity. He recognized that any of his analogies were very weak and are not a strong support for the Trinity teaching. I chose the analogy of: Mind, Knowledge and Love because Augustine mixed these three concepts very well. As Harmless said, the first time you read this analogy you think that Augustine is playing with words (p. 298), but that he is doing is giving support to his idea of Trinity.

Augustine used an analogy of mind, knowledge and love to talk about Trinity, Augustine wrote about these three elements: “When the mind knows itself and loves itself, a trinity remains: the mind, love, and knowledge. And there is not confusion through any commingling, though each is a substance in itself and all are found mutually in all… all are one” (p. 299). After this, Augustine wrote about how these concepts are mixed and inter-related themselves, each one with each other. “But they are mutually in each other in such a way that the mind that loves is in the love, and the love is in the knowledge of the one that loves, and knowledge is in the mind that knows” (p. 299). Also, Augustine finish talking about this analogy saying: “These three, therefore, are in a marvelous way inseparable from one another, and yet each of them is a substance, and all together are one substance or essence, while the terms themselves express a mutual relationship” (p. 299).  

I enjoyed this analogy because Augustine mixed and inter-related these three elements in a way where we can see the same concept back of the concept of the Trinity, and we can say that the mind, love and knowledge show what the Trinity is. Harmless said it very well: “Namely, if each is the same substance, equal to each of the others, distinct (but not different) from one another, mutually inter-related, mutually indwelling, and united (but without any mixture)” (p. 288). Never I thought that Augustine could have written about this topic. Personally, I believe that this topic has to be accepted by faith because the support that for us is strong, this support could be weak for others, so, it's a topic that always will create conflicts, however it has to be accepted by faith.