wfn.org | Assembly chaplain is lonelier than the Maytag repairman

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ecunet.org>]

Note #6094 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

30-June-2000
GA00144

	Assembly chaplain is lonelier than the Maytag repairman

	Inactivity of spiritual advisors is blamed on low visibility, poor
promotion

	by Evan Silverstein

LONG BEACH, June 30 –   The Rev. C. George Fitzgerald, a co-chaplain of the
212th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), has felt a
little bit superfluous this week.

	He's like the fabled Maytag repairman, always on call, never needed.

	Fitzgerald, director of Chaplaincy Services at the Stanford University
Medical Center since 1988, volunteered his services as minister to
Assembly-goers in need of pastoral care. So far, however, his services have
not been required even once since Wednesday, when he relieved his
co-chaplain, the Rev. Betsy Goss Stillwell, of Salinas, Calif.

	"At this point it's been zero," Fitzgerald said of the pastoral business he
and Stillwell have done this week. "Betsy's overheard some stories.  She
knows of one situation where a (Assembly) commissioner's neighbor was run
over. But directly it's been a big zero."

	Fitzgerald and Stillwell have made themselves accessible. Each of them has
a pager. Each of them is aware that a suitable chapel is available on the
second floor of the Long Beach Convention Center. But there have been no
takers.

	This inaction disappoints but does not surprise Fitzgerald. He says
Assembly chaplains have been around for five years, but haven't often been
sought out for spiritual guidance.

	 "Certainly that's been my experience at this meeting," said Fitzgerald, a
former moderator of San Francisco Presbytery.

	General Assembly chaplains are provided by the Presbyterian Association of
Specialized Pastoral Ministries (PASPM), a group of chaplains and pastoral
counselors affiliated with the Presbyterian Health, Education and Welfare
Association (PHEWA).

	The dearth of business isn't surprising to Fitzgerald, who has degrees from
Princeton Seminary and San Francisco Theological Seminary. He said it's not
a matter that requires divine intervention. What is needed is advertising.

	He said there is one brochure that has information about the PASPM
chaplains, but it's obscured by other literature in a large rack in the
Convention Center. In addition, Assembly participants would have to call a
long-distance phone number to activate his pager.

	"I think there are some specific steps that could be taken that would make
it much more effective," Fitzgerald said.
 
	He suggested a listing for the chaplain, possibly with a photograph, in the
Assembly program, a local pager number for easier access, and an appearance
by the chaplain at the opening worship service. A placard in the chapel
naming the minister on duty would also help create business, he said.

	Fitzgerald said the solution is simple.

	"You can be very busy, night and day, once the word is out," he said. "I
firmly believe ... that once this connects, we'll have more requests than we
can respond to."

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