If you have a loved one entering hospice care, you will have access to a hospice chaplain. The hospice chaplain is part of the interdisciplinary care team that includes a physician, registered nurses, nurses aids, social worker, chaplain, volunteers, and bereavement specialist.

The chaplain’s primary function is to help patients and families cope with the internal struggles that often arise as people face the end of life. A chaplain comes from a religious discipline because one’s beliefs determine how grief, difficulties, and terminal disease is emotionally processed.

The chaplain is trained on understanding differences in religion and not advocating for any particular beliefs or denominational faith. The best definition I have ever heard for the chaplain’s work is: A chaplain offers a ministry of presence, not a ministry of conversion. The chaplain aims to draw out whatever beliefs the patient may hold when it comes to helping them cope with their health issues.

A patient or family doesn’t have to have religious affiliation to benefit from a chaplain’s visit while on hospice, because religion and spirituality are only part of the internal spectrum that helps us cope. It’s not uncommon for me to have a visit with a patient or family and never mention anything regarding religion.

Some patients and families draw more strength for coping from their own family support system. Having family often gives a dying person a sense of love as they deal with their illness. Some other emotional strengths that encourage internal coping is having a sense of having lived a life with meaning or a life lived according to their plan.

I mentioned that a hospice chaplain offers a ministry of presence, not one of aggressive proselytizing for any particular theology. The primary way that a chaplain has a ministry presence is by listening. They are present by listening and not by managing control of the patient’s or family’s conversation. Listening is the chaplain’s purpose in visiting.

A chaplain can be said to be a professional listener and when they visit, it will feel more like a visit from a family friend, because it feels more natural or organic and responsive to whatever the patient or family shares. It is in the chaplain’s purpose to be a listener that the patient or family receive encouragement for their coping.

Fear, worry, or unsettling emotions like guilt can be responded to by a chaplain in order to help the patient or family cope better. Coping better is important because it allows the patient and family to enjoy a better quality of life with the time that remains.

I probably need to mention a common objection to seeing the hospice chaplain, which is, I have a pastor so I don’t need to see the hospice chaplain. I really like hearing that a patient or a family has a church pastor that is visiting and I affirm them for providing pastoral care. I would suggest that allowing the hospice chaplain their initial visit is a good time to include that into the patient’s care plan.

The last thing that I will mention about the hospice chaplain, is that a chaplain is a good sounding board for counsel regarding whatever is concerning the patient or family. Whatever questions you may have on the receiving end of hospice, the chaplain may have the answer or at least point you in the right direction. Questions about regrets, Do Not Resuscitate orders, funeral arrangements, afterlife, or even anticipatory grief, are always welcomed by the chaplain.

Chaplains are usually ordained ministers and can offer traditional clergy services, prayer, communion, Scripture reading, or various rituals that may be close to the patient’s heart. 

Just know that the hospice chaplain is there for support as your loved one enters end of life care, whatever their religious involvement may be. The support of a hospice chaplain can make the difference between a life ending in distress or a life ending with the qualities of contentment, peace, and love.