Kia ora koutou,

I’ve just been to the Sea of Faith (http://www.sof.org.nz/) conference in Dunedin; great organisation and group of people. Fascinating approach: they have a speaker then small group discussions. I did a talk about spirituality in healthcare – an update on where I see the field coming from and moving to. One of the conference highlights was the final panel session – with Prof Sir Lloyd Geering, and three of us other key note speakers. What a privilege to be on stage with our New Zealand treasure! I highly recommend the Sea of Faith.

Of note, in terms of ‘hot of the press’ is the MidCentral District Health Board. Led by healthcare chaplain Sande Ramage, the DHB are setting up what I understand as the NZ’s first “Spiritual Care Advisory Group”. This is an excellent initiative!

Best

Richard

Kia ora koutou

From many people in the ‘death business’ we hear the call for the need to talk more openly about death. I agree with this completely. In this Radio NZ interview Jonathan Mane-Wheoki beautifully exemplifies how one might consider their own death and life. Thank you Jonathan (and Radio NZ for doing it).

See this site for the interview:

http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/spiritualoutlook/20140803

And from the website:

“I think of God in more abstract terms.”

Seventy year-old Professor Jonathan Mane-Wheoki is terminally ill with pancreatic cancer. He has been told he’ll be dead before Christmas.

So Jonathan is organising his own Requiem Mass at Auckland’s Holy Trinity Cathedral, before his body is taken for its tangi and burial in Northland.

Cheers

Richard

Kai ora koutou,

many asked the question what exactly do you mean when you talk about spiritaulity and spiritual care. A fair question! With the growing evidence of the importance of spiritual care some governments are developing comprehensive policies. One of the best I’ve seen, recently translated into english, comes from the Dutch. See what you think, it’s at the link below:

http://www.eapcnet.eu/Corporate/Newsmedia/PublicationsDocuments/tabid/382/ArticleID/954/mod/875/Spiritual-care-Nation-wide-guideline-Version-1-0.aspx

What about NZ? Are we ready for such guidelines/policy?

All the best

Richard

Kia ora koutou,

You may be interested to hear this radio interview on the issues canvassed in this website:

http://podcast.radionz.co.nz/sun/sun-20140720-0845-richard_egan_-_spiritual_care-048.mp3

All the best

Richard

Kia ora koutou,

See below – we just published a paper suggesting spirituality can be improved by consideirng your organisation’s commitment to it; considering things like policy, space and chaplaincy.  This paper is about hospices, but the concept could be transferable.  What do you think?

Cheers

Richard

ps. happy to send a copy of paper if you can’t access it

• Short report

Kia ora koutou,

this quote in the title comes from interesting report from Stats NZ ( see  http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/people_and_communities/maori/TeKupenga_HOTP13.aspx) .

Called Te Kupenga 2013 the section on spirituality notes

“Two-thirds feel spirituality is important. … Māori have always acknowledged the importance of wairua (spirituality) to their well-being.
Through wairua Māori identity is expressed, relationships are built, balance is supported, and the connection between te ao wairua and te ao Māori is maintained. Because the concept of wairua is difficult to measure, Te Kupenga focused on measures of the importance of wairua. In 2013, 345,500 (66 percent) Māori adults stated spirituality was important (very, quite, or somewhat) in their life. This compared with 18 percent who said this was not at all important. Māori women were more likely (74 percent) to feel that spirituality was important than Māori men (57 percent). … Less than half say religion is important. Forty-five percent of Māori adults said religion was important (very, quite, or somewhat). This compared with 21 percent who stated it was a little important, and 34 percent who said it was not at all important.” (p.3-4)

All the best

Richard

Kia ora koutou,

Thanks for the posts lately.  More conversations welcome. What, for instance, are the spiritual issues and questions for our politicians, now we know the election date.  Other than expedience, what are the ‘values & beliefs’, ‘sense of meaning & purpose’ that underpins our politicians policy and practice?

Also, do check out the Selwyn Spirituality and Aging Centre website – lots of good stuff and new newsletter out: http://www.selwyncare.org.nz/10/the-selwyn-centre-for-ageing-and-spirituality

All the best

Richard