My job as chaplain in a large psychiatric hospital was terminated. I think the corporate executives thought the bottom line would be improved. What they didn’t know was patients entered the chapel to pray and hear the chaplain’s daily devotionals. Patients often knelt in front of the cross to pray and cry out to God for healing. Several courageous patients visited the CEO to insist on opening the chaplain’s department. After a year the CEO bowed to their wishes.
Ernest Bruder was chaplain of the largest psychiatric hospital in the country. I took a class from him. He faced the same pressures from hospital CEOs. He wrote a small book – Ministering to Deeply Troubled People. In this work he maintained that spiritual care is as vital in the treatment of the mentally ill as other treatment modalities.
A large hospital for the mentally ill closed in the city where I lived. Within weeks an increased number of homeless people roamed the streets and slept in parks. The corporation realized the savings while the former patients relied on soup kitchens and centers like Salvation Army.
I volunteer at a food pantry run by Assemblies of God church. Tearful and ashamed, people ask for food. After they buy medications there is little left for food. Volunteers serve free food and listen to heart breaking stories. They listen to hopeless people while protectors of the bottom line enjoy their carefree life.