The J. Earl Thompson Pastoral Care Symposium
at Andover Newton Theological School
September 27, 2010
Theme | Film | Schedule | Presenters | Directions | Register
The Gift of Time: Terminal Diagnosis and the Healing of Relationships
A terminal diagnosis can be a new beginning as much as it is an end. Explore the possibilities for healing that a terminal diagnosis can bring to relationships. Join faculty from Andover Newton Theological School and other experts in a day-long forum focusing on this rich, but less examined aspect of terminal illness.
The day will begin with a viewing of The Gift of Time, a new 55-minute documentary film. This film captures the varied perspectives and relationships that develop in one family over the years between the mother’s initial cancer diagnosis and her death following metastasis fifteen years later. A panel discussion and workshops will follow to explore some of the topics raised by the film in more depth, such as unresolved grief in the face of loss, nurturing and healing relationships through forgiveness, and addiction and abuse as barriers to healing relationships.
The day will be led by pastoral care faculty from Andover Newton Theological School, including J. Earl Thompson, Brita Gill-Austern, Sharon Thornton, and Leanne Tigert.
Dr. Cynthia Crosson, Director of the Child Protection Institute at Fitchburg College and author of numerous books on child abuse, Mary Martha Thiel, Director of CPE at Hebrew Senior Life/Rehabilitation Center, and Rabbi Seth Bernstein, Jewish Chaplain at UMass Memorial Medical Center will lead workshops. The film-maker, Francis James, will also participate.
The forum promises learning and growth opportunities for professionals such as chaplains, medical professionals and social workers, for seminary students, and for people with terminal diagnoses and their family members.
The Gift of Time is approved for 5.5 Continuing Education Units (CEU) by the National Association of Social Workers. An additional fee will apply for CEU certification.
About the Film: The Gift of Time
When filmmaker Francis James’ mother is faced with her own mortality, she provides her family the opportunity to confront secrets and traumas of their past. In the midst of physical illness, emotional relationships grow healthier and more mature.
James' documentary becomes a story of reconciliation and redemption in a family who thought these were not possible. It is a journey of acceptance and forgiveness to the gifts she ultimately gives herself, her family and you, the film’s viewers.
Francis James says: “This was an incredibly challenging journey, but ultimately I realized that film was only a catalyst, a carrier for the real purpose– to help spread the healing that occurs in the film out to audiences in their own lives.”
For more information and a trailer of the movie, see http://www.giftoftimemovie.com.
Registration and Fees and CEU
This event is sold out.Presenters
J. Earl Thompson, Jr. is Austin Philip Guiles Professor of Pastoral Psychology and Family Studies emeritus, and adjunct professor at Andover Newton. After teaching church history for 17 years and then pastoral psychology and family studies for 19 years at Andover Newton, Professor Thompson retired from full-time teaching in 2000. An ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, he also trained and practiced as a marriage and family therapist for 19 years. Since 2000, he has taught courses in pastoral psychology and theology as an adjunct professor.
Seth L. Bernstein is Rabbi of Temple Sinai in Worcester, MA, Jewish Chaplain at UMASS-Memorial Medical Center, and a member of the Interdisciplinary Care Team of the Jewish Home Hospice. Rabbi Bernstein is a Board Certified Chaplain of the Association of Professional Chaplains and the National Association of Jewish Chaplains (N.A.J.C.) and currently serves as Chair of the Certification Commission of the N.A.J.C. He holds a D Min. from Andover Newton Theological School where his advisor was Professor J. Earl Thompson, Jr..
Cynthia Crosson-Tower is the director of the Child Protection Institute at Fitchburg College and consultant, trainer in the field of child abuse and neglect, and an adjunct faculty member at Andover Newton. Dr. Crosson-Tower is the author of numerous publications, including: The Role of Educators in Preventing and Responding to Child Abuse and Neglect; Understanding Child Abuse and Neglect; Exploring Child Welfare: A Practice Perspective; When Children Are Abused: An Educator's Guide to Intervention; Secret Scars: A Guide for Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse; Homeless Students and How Schools Can Combat Child Abuse and Neglect. A long career as social worker and psychotherapist informs her ministry and teaching.
Brita Gill-Austern is the incumbent Austin Philip Guiles Professor of Psychology and Pastoral Theology at Andover Newton. She is Faculty Director of Border-Crossing Immersions and has a passion for transformative education in diverse contexts, which has led to working with students to cross geographical and conceptual borders to enhance their understanding of the forces that deepen poverty and create divisions between us. Her academic interests and writing have centered around the integration of faith, health and spirituality; the psychology and spirituality of women; ecclesial models of care; the study of depression; and developmental psychology. In the last several years her teaching, research and writing have turned to examine the intersection of love and justice in relation to the care of those made poor by practices of exclusion. She has been committed for more than two decades to interfaith dialogue and work between Jews and Christians, and for the last several years with Muslims as well.
Francis G. James has been active in the film industry for nearly a decade as camera man and filmmaker in New Orleans, Louisiana. His seven films have won numerous awards and acclaim including the Bronze Apple Award (National Educational Market), and the Kodak Vision Award (International Photographers Guild/American Society of Cinematographers). In addition, James is the recipient of a number of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Film Institute and the Louisiana Division of the Arts. He recently worked as the lead camera on the new Disney series “The Imagination Movers” and was a contributing director of photography on “Trouble the Waters,” which won Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival 2008. For more information and a trailer of the movie, see http://www.giftoftimemovie.com
Mary Martha Thiel is Director of Clinical Pastoral Education at Hebrew Senior Life/Hebrew Rehabilitation Center, where she runs a Jewish geriatric chaplaincy training program. She is an ordained United Church of Christ minister, Board Certified Chaplain in the Association of Professional Chaplains, and a CPE Supervisor in the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education. While Director of Pastoral Care at Massachusetts General Hospital, she created a groundbreaking CPE program for teaching healthcare professionals how to integrate spiritual caregiving into the practice of their own disciplines.
Sharon Thornton is Professor of Pastoral Theology at Andover Newton. Parish ministry and teaching in hospitals, prisons and urban settings inform Professor Thornton’s passion for pastoral theology. Ordained in the United Church of Christ, she joined the faculty of Andover Newton in 2000. She seeks to cultivate a classroom climate open to imagination, courage and critical thinking in order to address pastoral issues emerging in diverse communities of faith today. Her book Broken Yet Beloved addresses contemporary experiences of historical suffering. She also is working with public school educators to bring a faith perspective into conversations about diversity in the classroom.
Leanne McCall Tigert is a Fellow in the American Association of Pastoral Counselors and a licensed pastoral psychotherapist, writer and activist. Rev. Dr.Tigert teaches as adjunct faculty in pastoral care and counseling at Andover Newton. She is an ordained UCC minister and is the author of four books: Coming Out Young and Faithful; Coming Out Through Fire: Surviving the Trauma of Homophobia; Coming Out While Staying In; and Transgendering Faith: Identity, Sexuality and Spirituality. Her clinical pastoral work focuses on empowering individuals and families to claim psychological and spiritual health and healing within a context of social liberation.
Schedule
PLEASE NOTE: This schedule is preliminary and subject to change.
| Time | Monday, September 27, 2010 | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 9:30 am - 12:15 pm |
Morning Program
|
Wilson Chapel |
| 12:15 pm |
Lunch
| |
| 1:00 pm - 4:30 pm |
Afternoon Program Workshops: Session 1 (1:00 pm – 2:30 pm)
Workshops: Session 2 (2:45 pm – 4:15 pm)
| To be announced. |
