Religious Care by Hospital Chaplains for Non-Religious Patients Who Died in Hospital and Their Families

Abstract

In Japan, spiritual care practices and discussions are carried out primarily in the field of end-of-life care, and wherein spiritual care has normally been separated from religious care. Then is religious care by religious people for non-religious people unnecessary? In this article, we focused on what kind of care is provided by hospitals with religious origins to non-religious patients when they died.

We conducted semi-structured interviews with 23 religious people who work for Tenri Hospital, Christian-based hospitals A and B, and Asoka Vihara Hospital. As cares for non-religious patients who died in Tenri Hospital and Asoka Vihara Hospital, religious people conducted farewell ceremony. At Christian-based hospitals A and B, chaplains conducted funerals if there were requests from the patients. As grief care for bereaved families, Christian-based hospital A held a support group for the bereaved families once a month and Cristian-based hospital B provided counseling for bereaved families. Some bereaved families visited Asoka Vihara Hospital to worship the deceased.

From these practices, we can say that many Japanese who identify themselves as being “non-religious” nonetheless want to connect with the world after death or the soul of the dead, not via “religion” but rather “religious people.” “Care for the dead” and “care for bereaved to ‘care for the dead’” are the roles which were once performed in the local community. From this research, these are now the new roles required of religious people in hospitals.