wfn.org | Oklahoma City team shares insights with NYC caregivers

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Nov. 7, 2001  News media contact: Tim Tanton7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
10-21-71B{519}

By Chris Herlinger*

NEW YORK CITY (UMNS) - A team of counselors from Oklahoma City shared advice
and insights with dozens of New York-area clergy and caregivers in the first
of a series of Church World Service (CWS) Interfaith Trauma Response Team
training events.

The sessions, held in mid-town Manhattan, were part of a major effort by
Church World Service and its member denominations in responding to the Sept.
11 terrorist attacks by providing immediate and long-term counseling and
pastoral care. CWS is the global service and witness ministry of the
National Council of Churches.

CWS consultant William Sage, coordinator of the Interfaith Trauma Response
Team, coordinated the two four-hour sessions, held Oct. 26-27. The sessions
were led by Dr. Katrina Bright, the Rev. Denise Glavan and the Rev. Tim
Pool, all of Oklahoma City.

With a background in both theology and psychology, the team of professionals
had played prominent roles in the response and recovery efforts in Oklahoma
City following the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building and
the devastating tornados in the spring of 1999.

Participants shared their concerns and discussed the challenges they face on
the long road to recovery following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the
World Trade Center. The Rev. June Stitzinger-Clark, a United Methodist
pastor from Atlanta Highlands, N.J., who attended the Oct. 26 event, said
her community has 80 widows from the tragedy; people are grieving and in a
state of shock; they are seeking answers but are angry and depressed.

Dr. Sezelle Haddon of the Wellness Center of New York's Riverside Church, an
international church with ties to the American Baptist Churches and the
United Church of Christ, said she and other staff had expected large numbers
of people seeking counseling after the event. However, that has not
materialized, leaving her and other mental health staff to wonder if there
will be "something of delayed reaction" before or during the upcoming
November-December holidays.

Raymond Rodriguez of the New York City Administration for Children noted
that there seems to be no end to the continuing threats of terrorism. "So
how do we now negotiate our day-to-day lives with this reality?"

Glavan said she understood all of the concerns, and that clergy and other
caregivers need support now. "You represent God in your faith communities,
and people are coming to you for your help," she noted. While clergy are
trained in pastoral care for individual crises, "public trauma" stemming
from a catastrophic disaster is far different, as it leaves large numbers of
people paralyzed, "trying to make sense out of a senseless act," she said.

"If you're looking for the 'why,' there isn't a 'why,' she said. "God did
not drive those planes into the (World Trade Center) buildings. What
happened was horrible, and it's all right for you and those in your
communities to be angry."

A disaster like Sept. 11 is also different than a natural disaster, Bright
said, because while anger is an expected response to, say, a tornado, a
terrorist act prompts a reaction of "rage -- where violence meets
powerlessness."

Both Bright and Glavan shared practical ways to equip caregivers, both
mentally and emotionally, to embrace the challenges ahead.

Among their suggestions to pastors and other caregivers:
7	Don't preach forgiveness, at least initially; it is too soon to do
that, Glavan said. Less than a week after the Oklahoma City bombing, some
pastors were already preaching the need for forgiveness, and that was
inappropriate, given the community-wide suffering.
7	Don't try to do too much: "A bleeding heart that bleeds to death is
of no good to anyone," Bright said.
7	Take time off. "If you don't take a day of rest, your people will
feel they can't take a day of rest," Glavan said.
7	Use the fear and anxiety as emotions that can be channeled to build
stronger congregations and faith communities, such as through community
service work. "Use this energy to be a building block, a bridge, and not for
destructive uses," Bright said. "This isn't about forgiveness; it is the
opposite of destruction."
7	It is better to say you don't know when you don't know than to try
answering all questions. "If you don't know what to say, don't say
anything," Glavan said. "Sometimes we try to fill in too much of our
silence."
7	Don't push a pre-arranged agenda on congregations. "In this tragedy,
you let them set the pace," Bright said.
7	Use the moment to try to unite congregations. "Ask the question,
'How do we get through this together?" Glavan said. "How do we face this
together?' You have to acknowledge people's fears but also stress that
people have to 'get through this experience together.' "

The trainers cautioned against the phenomenon of "competitive guilt" --
something they saw in Oklahoma City and are witnessing in New York. This
takes the form of people believing that they can only be of service if they
are at ground zero, or that they are working harder than another aid agency
or church or have suffered more. Even some people who received phone calls
from loved ones in the doomed World Trade Center are comparing phone calls.

"It's a defense against powerlessness," Bright said. 

But Pool warned strongly against "competitive guilt" in any form. "Suffering
is absolute. Pain is pain," he said. "It can't be compared or quantified."

The positive response to these initial training events proves "how much a
need there is for this, how much hurt there is," Glavan said. Plans are
under way for a more intensive, six-hour training event on Nov. 16 for
recognized faith leaders providing direct counseling or pastoral care to
their communities, and another four-hour, interactive workshop orientation
on Nov. 17 for any faith leader providing direct or indirect caregiving
stemming from the attacks.

"You can't make sense out of a senseless situation," Glavan said. "But
working within the faith community, these clergy can begin the work they
need for their communities to cope.

"What we do is encourage them and give them some tools because you can never
be prepared for something like this," she said.

As part of a broad response to the events of Sept. 11, CWS will continue to
sponsor the training events for local clergy, caregivers and spiritual
leaders.

A total of 70 participants -- two sets of 35 each -- enrolled in the
trainings events. Enrollment in the sessions quickly filled up, and numerous
caregivers had to be turned away, Sage said.

For more information, contact Sage at (212) 288-6857 or wsageo@aol.com.

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*Herlinger is information officer for Church World Service's emergency
response staff.

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United Methodist News Service
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