Case Studies of Spiritual Care

On March 29, the second day of the “Colloquium on Intercultural Spiritual Care for Culturally Chinese Populations” at Harvard Divinity School (HDS), we went from defining spiritual care to focusing on case studies of spiritual care. Francis Lee, an alumnus of HDS and currently the Director of Spiritual Life at Sarah Lawrence College, expressed, “We’re talking about case study frameworks and methodologies and the importance of the case study method for making meaning, reflecting on spiritual care encounters.”

The speakers at the colloquium described spiritual healing as storytelling, “complete with plot, characters, and dialogue. It usually involves a dilemma or a decision that is unclear, about which reasonable people could come to different conclusions.” As such, through the case studies, participants told stories to one another and discussed what could be done in each scenario. It was a fruitful experience.