Compassion Sabbath is a national program designed to provide tools and resources to help clergy meet the spiritual needs of seriously ill and dying people and provide individual consultations in the field of healthcare ethics. The Compassion Sabbath concept grew out of a discussion between Kansas City area pastors who wanted to identify ways to help faith leaders ministering to the terminally ill.
"All of us clergy at some point in our lives have experienced the uncomfortable feeling of not knowing what to say or do, how to listen, or how to answer a difficult question for a dying person," said one pastor. "We need to first begin to become comfortable with the process of dying so that we can comfort those who are."
Hundreds of Kansas City faith communities participated in the first year of Compassion Sabbath and produced a measurable impact. A survey showed 36 percent of clergy noting improvement in the quality of their ministry to the seriously ill and dying, while the number of people involved in this ministry grew by 60 percent.
Since then Compassion Sabbath has produced similar results in communities across the country, most recently with a collaborative effort involving St. John Health in Detroit and the Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life.
Compassion Sabbath has been funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Dunn Family Foundation, the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Kansas City and Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinic's. To learn more about scheduling a workshop, or to find out where the next sessions will be offered or to obtain course materials, please call (816) 221-1100 or email bioethic@practicalbioethics.org.
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