Integral Pastoral Care in Ghana

Proposals for Healing in the Asante Context

What is Pastoral Care? Pastoral Care is differently defi ned by many authorities. Encyclopedia defi nes it as the ministry of care and counseling provided by pastors, chaplains, and other religious leaders to members of their church or congregation, to anyone within institutional settings, with a focus on healing, reconciling, guiding, and sustaining. Kate Lombardi, in her article titled Chaplains as Comforters in the New York Times of July 20, 2003, says, While doctors and nurses at the Westchester Medical Center here, work on the bodies of patients, there is another group of people - the hospital chaplains, who work with their spirits. She lists some of the many services provided by the Pastoral Care Giver in a hospital setting as enumerated in my book and concludes on the note that Chaplains see human emotions at their most rawThey work with people whose bodies are ravagedThese chaplains say that to see a medical crisis brings on a spiritual crisis. I have identifi ed a human need of Pastoral Care among the Asante people and Ghanaians as a whole. As a starting point, this book seeks to highlight the problem and create communal awareness among community and religious leaders. From here, I plan to train leaders (volunteers) in basic skills in chaplaincy for visitation to some selected clinics and hospitals in Kumasi. (Phase 1). Under Phase II of my vision, I hope to establish an Ecumenical Pastoral Counseling Center in Kumasi for which reason I have started looking for partners and sponsors in the US and elsewhere for support. The Phase III (long term dream) is to establish a Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) Program in Kumasi (Please see Introduction for more understanding of CPE). Readers who are interested in supporting the Royal Diadem Pastoral Center project through sponsorship or donation are to contact me at gabriel@ghanarodi.com, gabriel.ab925@yahoo.com, gabrielabm1913@gmail. com, Tel: 773-968-1983, 773-363-7889.