Spiritual First Aid

Disaster chaplains minister on the front lines in crises

By Mary Ann Poust

Source - Catholic New York Aug 30, 2007 Vol XXVI, no.23

When the steam pipe exploded last month in midtown Manhattan, a chaplain from Disaster Chaplaincy Services was on the scene with the firefighters, police officers and emergency medical workers to offer comfort, support, and a sympathetic ear to whoever might need it.

The group had a chaplain in Highbridge, the Bronx, after the “Woodycrest” fire that killed nine people, eight of them children, in March; one in the Catskill region during the floods there earlier this summer; two at the scene of the 2006 crash of Yankee pitcher Corey Likle’s small plane into an east Side Manhattan apartment building.

And, as always, a delegation of the group’s chaplains will be at the annual 9/11 memorial service near the Ground Zero site, available to the victims’ families and friends who may need them.

“What we provide is spiritual first aid,” said Father Emile Frische MHM, archdiocesan coordinator for special and pastoral ministries, who is president of the multifaith chaplaincy services group.

“It‘s a ministry of presence,” he said, “and a lot of it involves just being with people, allowing them to tell their stories.

“That’s often what people need in time of emergency and crisis,” he said, “just for someone to listen to them.”

Wearing bright green vests with the word “Chaplain” printed on the back, the 130-member corps of clergy and lay volunteers respond to natural and man-made disasters and emergency situations including building collapses, fires, floods and even major snowstorms.

With more than 25 faith traditions represented including about 3o priests and deacons from the archdiocese, the chaplains work with victims of disasters, with family members, with frightened onlookers and with the emergency responders and rescue workers themselves.

At the steam explosion site, for instance, the Rev. Julie Taylor, executive director of the chaplaincy group, as approached by a young man from an emergency response agency.

“I asked him how he was doing,” she said. “He told me, ‘Not too well right now.  I’m having trouble breathing.’

“He was very disoriented,” said Rev. Taylor, a Congregational minister, “so I walked him over to an area where they had dust masks and he got one.

“In those moments,” she added, “prayer is generally not what the request is.  I think the most important service we can give is really this ministry of presence…basic information, support, whatever is needed at the time.

“Sometimes it’s just a bottle of water, sometimes it’s ‘Help me find a dust mask.’  But there’s a spiritual element to all of that, there’s a connection,” she said. “We represent something larger, and oftentimes it’s a piece of hope.”

Father Kevin M. Gallagher, pastor of Infant Saviour in Pine Bush, was called to the Red Cross shelter in Roscoe during the flash floods in June that devastated Sullivan and Greene counties.

“One family had a double death,” he said, “and in a case like that you offer condolences and make yourself available.  With a lot of the old-timers who lost their houses, they just wanted to talk.”

Disaster Chaplaincy Services (DSC) was modelled on the spiritual care teams formed by the national American Red Cross for aviation disasters.  It was established in 2000 under the guidance of Rabbi Stephen Roberts, a member of the Red Cross spiritual care team, to serve the New York metropolitan area. 

Operating first in a partnership with the American Red Cross in Greater New York, it later spun off to become an independent, non-profit agency.  Most of its calls, however, still from the Red Cross or from the New York City Office of Emergency Management. 

With Rabbi Roberts, DCS organisers worked for almost a full year putting together a team of professional chaplains to create the local program.

In a poignant coincidence, it was finalised and in place just one week before Sept. 11, 2001 – when a terrorist attack brought down the World Trade Centre towers in the biggest disaster in New York’s history. 

“That was our first big test,” Father Frische said.

It was then that Father Frische became involved, volunteering his services to the recovery effort as he worked 12-hour shifts for months.  First, he was with survivors and families of the hard-hit Cantor Fitzgerald company in facilities set up for them in two mid-town hotels.

Then, after training by the Red Cross, he was sent to the World Trade centre site where he did morgue duty, blessing and praying over recovered remains and ministering to rescue and recovery workers.

“I prayed with them too, and walked around outside to get fresh air,” he said, “because self-care is very much a part of this as well.”

Since then, DCS has grown into a round-the-clock service, with a chaplain on duty at all times to serve as a dispatcher when the calls come in.

Prospective chaplains are interviewed at least twice and undergo an eight-hour training program before they are accepted into the program.

Except for Rev. Taylor, who receives a small stipend for her work as executive director, and two part-time assistants, DCS is an all-volunteer agency that depends largely on grants to survive.

In June, the group raised $25,000 at its first fund-raiser, a reception that honored two supporters, Michael N. Emmerman and Virginia Mewborn.

A report released at the event detailed DCS’s work in the period Jan 1, 2006 to April 30, 2007 when its chaplains had contacts with 2,602 affected individuals during deployments, with 88 chaplains serving. 

Looking ahead, Father Frische said he’d like to see more Catholic sisters and lay persons involved, and he’d like to build up membership so that every faith community in the New York area is represented.

“New York demands it, New York deserves it,” he said.

He stressed, however, that the chaplains are not permitted to proselytize.

Still, when people see a chaplain during an emotional situation the religious affiliation is not necessarily critical.   “They come and they talk to us,” father Frische said.  “They take the opportunity.  It’s a sign of faith.”