Chaplain's Corner

Discrimination is a “dirty” word, to be accused of discriminating is one of the worst accusations that can be made against someone these days. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that in many ways discrimination is offensive, illegal and uncharitable. But I think this is one of those words that requires closer examination.

To discriminate simply means “to recognize a distinction; differentiate”; it is also more commonly used “to make an unjust or prejudicial distinction in the treatment of different categories of people or things”. Sadly, the culturally negative overtones that surround the word “discriminate” disregard the fact that appropriate discrimination is practiced by each of us every day.

Presently, I sit on the Spiritual Health Care Steering Committee at MB Health. The committee is tasked with determining how to implement an action plan to promote spiritual health care, to educate the public and health care workers in regards to spiritual health care, to integrate spiritual health care into the total program of MB Health, and to work towards making it possible for any Manitoban in a health care facility to access spiritual health care: quite a big task.

One of the issues we are wrestling with is who can be recognized as a spiritual health care provider: This is an issue because in most rural and northern settings, this will have to be done by volunteers. There is a commitment to welcome volunteers for many different faith traditions. In a desire to be inclusive and non-discriminatory some believe that anyone who feels a calling to this work and is recognized by his or her faith community might be recognized as a spiritual health care provider. Others believe that like any discipline, certain competencies needs to be met in order to qualify to do the work of providing spiritual care in a health care setting.

When hiring a nurse, we are quite discriminating. A person applying to be a nurse must have completed and passed a defined educational course, must have completed practicums in a variety of health care settings and passed a vocational entrance exam. The same is true for a lab technician, or an x-ray technician, a physician, an occupational therapist, or any health care professional.

Manitoba Health has defined the competencies required to work in spiritual health. Looking for these qualities involves a process of discrimination, assessing whether applicants possess the competencies necessary to do the work of spiritual care in health care contexts. So, it is impossible to get away from discrimination, it is necessary to discriminate legitimately when it comes to things like hiring professionals or recruiting volunteers; but it is wrong to discriminate on the basis of characteristics that are irrelevant to one’s ability to perform the functions of a particular job.

There are times when patients in the hospital I work use discrimination to determine whether or not they want my services. For instance, I have not been able to serve some members of the Jehovah’s Witness Faith because I don’t meet the qualifications they look for in someone who would provide them spiritual care. This is good, they have that right and I respect that right, I fail to meet the criterion they are looking for to provide spiritual care services to them. On the other hand I have been welcomed by Hindu patients and provided ongoing spiritual care to them over a period of several months, because they determined that I had the criterion they needed to receive spiritual care from me. This is also good.

Discrimination is a reality, even a necessity. We practice it every day. Sometimes the criteria we use to discriminate are legitimate, other times they are not. What we need to learn is to be discriminating in regards to the criterion we use to make decisions about others.