Motion on Gender Identity Affirmation: A Conversation with a Hospital Administrator

Dale M. Coulter

Recently, I had an exchange with the chief mission integration officer at a Catholic hospital system in the Midwest. He has oversight of pastoral care and ethics. I wanted to talk to him about the potential impact if this item passed in its current form. I have worked with this administrator on a number of joint statements defending traditional marriage, pro-life, and religious freedom. I simply asked for his thoughts and his permission to print them.

Here is what he said:

This certainly is the strongest proposal I've seen so far. A few brief thoughts in light of chaplaincy:

1. I am concerned with these kinds of sweeping policies in light of the particularities and particular situations that ministers and (especially) chaplains have to navigate "on the ground."

A moment of crisis, when a chaplain is walking with a person in grief, is not the time to make a stand on gender pronouns. Sometimes to get to a deeper and more important end - the spiritual care of the person in front of you - the setting aside of one's personal convictions has to occur in order to meet the person where he/she is (i.e., compassionate care). That's chaplaincy - sometimes you're ministering to a Hindu, sometimes a Muslim, sometimes an atheist Ministering to them in times of grief is not the time to correct their theology.

And so would it not be the time to correct their pronoun use. This could put chaplains in quite a bind and will run counter to what they are taught as a chaplain profession.

2. This could create job instability for chaplains in hospitals. They would be forced to misalign with the policies of the hospital around this issue. Even Catholic systems, which do not “affirm” philosophically gender transitions, have still agreed to use the preferred pronoun of a patient out of a sense of dignity for the patient, and desire not to make that a stumbling block to medical care. If they have a chaplain unwilling to follow that policy, they would be motivated to dismiss that chaplain and not hire similar chaplains.

3. The Association of Professional Chaplains requires denominational endorsement for board certification. Thus, chaplains of this denomination who do not desire to follow this policy would not be able to get board certification, which is important in the profession of chaplaincy.

4. I spoke with a chaplain in your denomination. He said he would be forced to leave the denomination if this was put into place.

I share these thoughts because the Church of God needs to hear what impact this might have. I have learned that listening to the counsel of others before implementing significant changes is wise. We need to think through every potential angle. I have said repeatedly that this is not about whether to take a stand. It is about how we take a stand. I have written in two parts (part 1 and part 2) a statement on human dignity and transgenderism that I believe takes a biblical stand.