“Arbitrary Factors”: A Hospice Chaplain’s Reflection on Deeply Human Dramas Among Healthcare Chaplains and Within their Organizations During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Various “arbitrary factors” shaped healthcare chaplains’ experiences during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. The author’s reflection provides personal recollection, uniquely situated in the particular local organizational dynamics and inter-personal relationships among the professionals, supplementing the qualitative survey articles by the field’s on-going effort to collect, organize, and interpret the pandemic’s impact on the spiritual care practitioners.