HOWARD J. CLINEBELL, JR.

Words Spoken and Written in Memory of Howard
 

clinebell.gif (44292 bytes)

 

     The words collected here are from people who knew Howard Clinebell and worked with him.  They are placed here in memory of him.  We all know what an important place he held in our lives and work.  By creating this page we intend for his memory to go on without interruption.

[Before his death on April 13, 2005, Howard Clinebell, a pioneer in the field of pastoral counseling, placed all his papers at Emory and Candler except those relating directly to his teaching at Claremont School of Theology.  This rich resource is now archived and available to scholars.

Emory University Library Archives:
     http://libcat1.cc.emory.edu/uhtbin/cgisirsi/x/0/0/5?searchdata1=clinebell

Pitts Theology Library Archives:
     http://www.pitts.emory.edu/ARCHIVES/text/mss254.html ]

 

 

     Howard, your willingness in 1983 to expand the 1982 Pastoral Counselors' Network for Social Responsibility into the Pastoral Care Network for Social Responsibility gave me a vision of your inclusiveness in your efforts for peace and a better world.

     Your network of folks in other countries really made the International PCNSR come alive!  Your placing the IPCNSR at the meetings of the International Congress enabled us to know each other and to plan for other meetings as well.  Thank you for your enthusiasm, your warmth, your long-range planning and your very presence.  We miss you!  Shalom.

          - John R. Thomas
 

     How sad I feel.  And today is April 19th, a day of sadness for all of Oklahoma and a day of hope for peace through love and friendship.  I will always be indebted to Howard for such encouraging words and guidance all these years in Peacemaking.  I hope and pray for his family to be comforted by his wonderful life of serving so many others.  I had this great picture of him in my office and after you first contacted me I couldn't find it -- like it was just missing -- I will write Charlotte and I hope you will be able to represent the PCNSR-North America at his memorial service.  We both have some great memories of Howard.  How I used to worry over him -- especially in Africa when he had such a bad diabetic reaction and was taken to a local hospital.  And knowing that earlier that day he and I went on that really strenuous walk on those rainforest rope walks.  In all that heat.  He urged me on to make it -- amazing man.  He never wanted to miss any adventure.  God be with you, Michael.  I know he was in and around Howard, a man of such amazing grace.

          - Sherron Hughes-Tremper


     Howard will be missed by so many in so many ways it is really difficult to fully comprehend.

     For me he was such a good role model of someone willing to and able to speak truth to power and to do it in the context of pastoral care.

     Many of you knew Howard in the context of his work with IPCNSR, AAPC and his writings were his influence and wisdom touched us all.

     I was fortunate in the last decade to be able to co-teach courses with Howard through the Iliff School of Theology, and Claremont School of Theology, share rooms with him and co-present at AAPC conferences, and bring him to Salt Lake on three occasions to keynote the only interfaith environmental justice conference co-hosted at the LDS Joseph Smith Building, training for the Olympic Chaplain Committee, and a coalition event for Social Workers and Clergy at the University of Utah.

     Whenever Howard was out here he always liked to discuss his ideas and insights on Ecotherapy as we hiked in the Canyon Lands of Utah, the Wasatch Mountains, and a local wildlife preserve.

     He impressed me so much of his passion and concern for the Earth and said over and over again that all the things that he was famous for in the field of Pastoral Care would mean little if we did not have a healthy planet to do this work on.

     To me the greatest thing about Howard was his ability to live his life in a way so congruent with his beliefs.

     While he will be remembered by most for his monumental contributions in the field of Pastoral Counseling, I will remember him most as a clergy person who really lived and acted to heal the planet.

     I hope that we can all find ways to continue this important work.

          - Dave Randle


     My reflections about this wonderful human being -- Howard Clinebell -- grows out of my having known him for 40 years.

     I first met Howard when I was 30 years old in the mid-1960s. He had come over to Columbia, SC to make six films on Crisis Counseling at our state's Public Educational Television station. For years, those films were distributed by the SC Dept. of Mental Health to local pastors throughout the state to assist them in their counseling ministry. Since I was then a mental health chaplain with the SCDMH, I participated with him in one of those films in some role-playing. In the mid-1970s, I invited him to come back to Columbia to lead a two-day workshop in marriage enrichment for clergy while I was chaplain at the Hall Psychiatric Institute. Then again, he came back in the mid-1980s to speak to a pastoral care audience on the topic of Pastoral Care in the Nuclear Age. His influence on clergy in SC has been profound and long-lasting.


     How exciting it was in 1984 to be present in Chicago when, through his energy and vision, the initial board of the Pastoral Care Network for Social Responsibility was born!  Without his prodding, gentle spirit, and enthusiasm, we may never have gotten off the ground with this interest in integrating social and ecological justice with pastoral counseling/pastoral care. As we all know, the gifts of his world-wide contacts and cultivation were instrumental in making this common interest indeed an international effort. I will never forget participating with him in the IPCNSR conferences in the former Czechoslovakia and Italy.  In these contexts, people were naturally drawn to him due to his authentic prominence, leadership, and enduring commitment.  He always seemed to me be a World Citizen and whose loyalty was to all cultures and this precious planet which we inhabit.
 
     The earth, stars, rivers, and almost everything in this natural world was no abstract matter for him; you could feel his fascination and love for this splendrous mystery of the universe course through his spiritual veins. He will forever be remembered as one of the leading lights in the history of the clinical pastoral movement. His pioneering energies for meshing together social justice in this enterprise also will endure in his legacy. Equally, his gift of friendship, care, and warmth touched us all. 

          - Tom Summers


     Thinking about Howard. In 1952 I worked the summer as counselor at Camp Epworth, a junior high camp of the NY East conference of the Methodist Church.  Each camp session had a group of ministers and volunteers and many made impressions on me, and I took photos of some.  Howard was a stand out.  He talked to us about astronomy and led star tours at night.  He entertained playing the musical saw.  Although he moved west he remained a good friend to many in the New York area.

     When I entered parish ministry in California in 1962 I heard Howard lecture and when I felt I needed to get help I called for his advice.  My experience in counseling gave me the courage to apply for the pastoral counseling program at Claremont and Howard was there again as my advisor.  After graduation he was available to consult and email opened the door for many of us to focus on the goals of peace and IPCNSR gave a good avenue to work on that, especially at the AAPC meetings.

     In 1968 Howard gave me a call to contact the Pomona Family Service Association about working there as a counselor.  I was employed counselor.  I was employed there for two years and got to work more with Charlotte who was director of the Claremont FSA and later of the combined FSA of the two towns.  Even now Charlotte continues her counseling work in Santa Barbara Women's Crisis Center. She and Howard shared the joy of three children and now grand children and a great grand child.  I know we all share our love and support for Charlotte and family.  Howard's work and ministry will live in those he touched but we will miss the emails.  Now I shall choke back my tears.

          - Ed Swenson


     Howard Clinebell was an ageless wonder.  In his writings, he rarely gave hints as to the time frames of his life.  What I learned from him in conversation and correspondence over the years was that he was born June 3, 1922, in Springfield, Illinois.  His parents were also raised in Illinois, both having grown up on farms there and they continued to live close to the land as they raised their family through the Great Depression.  He was one of four children, the second child, actually.  He had an older sister who developed grand mal seizures fairly early in life, a younger sister who died on her first birthday, and a younger brother.  These early experiences affected the whole family, as did the onset of the Depression.  He was raised a Methodist by his parents (particularly influenced by his mother), and learned a very strong work ethic from them.  His involvement in Boy Scouting, as well as being surrounded by Abraham Lincoln lore also shaped who he would become.

He attended DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana and earned a B.A.  He received his B.D. from Garrett Theological Seminary in Chicago, and his Ph.D. from Columbia University & Union Theological Seminary in New York (where he studied with Paul Tillich and David Roberts).  In 1945, he married Charlotte Ellen, a student at nearby Northwestern University.  Along the way, he served churches in Indiana, Illinois, New York, & California.  His first church was a small Methodist congregation called Brick Chapel Church in Greencastle, Indiana in 1946.  When World War II broke out, he registered as a Conscientious Objector, a position not understood or supported by those around him.  Still, it was one of the early signs of things to come in terms of his commitment to peace, social justice, and ecological systems.  He continued to serve churches at each academic stop along the way.

While in New York, he served a congregation on Long Island for nearly 10 years.  He also did a Certificate program in applied Psychiatry for the Ministry at the William A. White Institute of Psychiatry in New York City (where he studied under Erich Fromm).  In the midst of this, he was working on his dissertation, mentored by Bill Wilson, the co-founder of AA.  This project resulted in his first book, Understanding and Counseling the Alcoholic.  He also did a Certificate program at the Yale Summer School of Alcohol Studies.  He then did a Post-doctoral year in marriage counseling and conjoint family therapy at the Marriage Council of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Child Guidance Center.  Somehow, with all this activity, he also managed to do three years of personal therapy and a Unit of CPE.

In addition to teaching for 30 years at the School of Theology at Claremont, in California, he also taught at New York University, University of Stellenbosch in South Africa, Vanderbilt University Divinity School in Tennessee, Yale Summer School of Alcohol Studies in Connecticut, and the University of Utah Summer School of Alcohol Studies.  He led workshops and lectured all over the world, traveling to every continent and nearly every country.  In many of the third world nations, he is considered the "father" of Pastoral Care and Counseling because of his commitment to nurturing Pastoral Counseling Centers, and Schools of Pastoral Theology that are culturally sensitive.

Over his lifetime, Howard served as a church pastor, a hospital Chaplain, a Marriage and Family Therapist, an Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselor, a Pastoral Counselor, and a Professor of Pastoral Care & Counseling.  While at the Claremont School of Theology, he founded what eventually became the Clinebell Institute (a merging of two of his organizations – the Institute for Religion and Wholeness, and the Pomona Valley Pastoral Counseling and Growth Center).  He was a founding member and first President of the American Association of Pastoral Counselors.  He was also a founding member and the first convener of the Pastoral Care Network for Social Responsibility.  He served as a consultant to the World Council of Churches over the years, and was a member of the National Task Force for President Jimmy Carter’s Commission on Mental Health.

Along the way, he received many awards and recognitions.  In addition to many honorary degrees, he was the recipient of the Distinguished Contribution Award from the American Association of Pastoral Counselors, and he received the Shalom Award from the International Pastoral Care Network for Social Responsibility.  He authored or co-authored 24 books, co-edited 18 volumes, wrote numerous book chapters, over 70 articles for professional journals, and produced several series of instructional videotapes.  He is best known for his text, Basic Types of Pastoral Care and Counseling.

Even though he "retired" in 1990, he didn’t slow down.  He remained active as a lecturer and workshop leader worldwide. He also found time for Charlotte, his wife and love of nearly sixty years, (who Howard would proudly say grew and developed from being a traditional housewife, to a radical feminist, a clinical social worker, a Marriage & Family Therapist, to a professional partner and collaborator), his three grown children: John, Donald, & Susan (and their spouses), five grandchildren, and one great grandchild, sailing, hiking, music, and traveling.  Whatever Howard did, he did it with passion, energy, and commitment.  This spirit has rubbed off on his children, as they too have taken up causes of social justice, peacemaking and the environment.

Howard struggled for many years with serious diabetes, and because of his very active lifestyle, it became increasingly difficult to control.  In many ways, diabetes was the "thorn in his side."  However, it was Parkinson’s Disease that curtailed much of his mobility in the last several months of his life.  He continued to function via e-mails, telephone calls, and writing as a spokesperson and activist in peacemaking, social justice and ecological undertakings.  Even though he was a thoughtful and soft-spoken man, he could still roll over you like a steamroller when he was on a mission.  What will be most remembered by his family, colleagues, students and friends was his spirited manner of engaging people and life in ways that were enlivening, challenging, and celebratory.  We have been, and will continue to be blessed by Howard’s life.

          - Lerrill White


     I am very sad.
     He was a combination of father, mentor, friend, colleague to me.
     May he rest in peace.
     thank you for letting me know.
     He has been much on my mind lately....
     blessings,

          - Terry Culbertson


     Howard's death is a great loss to all of us who have been touched by his spirit, his teaching and his writings.  Let him rest in peace.

          - Ronaldo Sathler-Rosa


     He was a giant in the field of pastoral care and psychology and a special, special friend.  He will remain in my heart and memory with gratitude for his caring and supportive presence and mentorship in my life.

          - Anne E. Streaty Wimberly


     As we all remember Howard was a beloved Professor of Pastoral Psychology and Counseling at CST for nearly 40 years.  His life teaching ministry and writings have been widely read and appreciated around the globe.  His Basic Types of Pastoral Care and Counseling is the most widely sold book in the field of PC & C and his Care and Counseling of the Alcoholic (based on his dissertation at Union Theological Seminary) broke new ground in the early 1960's.  Most of all, we have lost a good friend.  Howard, may you rest in peace dear friend.

          - William M. Clements


 

Vale Howard Clinebell

     The International Council for Pastoral Care and Counselling (ICPCC) celebrates the life of Howard Clinebell and joins with his family and friends in mourning his death.

     Howard has been without doubt the best-known name in the international pastoral care movement through the latter decades of the twentieth century.  His texts, in particular his versions of Basic Types, reflect the evolving understanding of pastoral care over the past fifty years, and have informed pastoral care curricula in seminaries world-wide.  Pastoral care training programs and counseling agencies around the world are staffed with people who were his postgraduate students at the Claremont School of Theology.

     The ICPCC, which counts amongst its membership 42 pastoral care associations drawn from all five continents, has benefited from Howard's involvement since its inception in 1979.  He attended all Congresses of the ICPCC, with the exception of last year's Bangalore meeting.  He had in fact planned to make Bangalore his final Congress, but its postponement from 2003 to 2004, in conjunction with his failing health, forced him to cancel.  And we missed him.

     The character of Howard's involvement in ICPCC was a measure of the man.  While he could have attended in a celebrity role, minimizing his actual engagement, he chose instead to participate fully as a delegate.  An inveterate networker, he encouraged others to share the peace and justice concerns that had emerged from his relationships with his overseas students.  The Congresses became reunions with his alumni as well as meetings with many other like-minded colleagues, soon expressed in the formation of the International Pastoral Counsellors' Network for Social Responsibility (IPCNSR).  The IPCNSR continues to meet within and alongside the Congresses.  At all the Congresses, and in email contact in the years between them, he continued to promote and encourage an expanding vision for pastoral care.  Always he was committed and concerned, remaining an activist at an age that would have led many others to retire from the fray, even without the health limitations he endured.

     The Council recognizes its debt to Howard Clinebell, and gives thanks to God for his life.  We will treasure his memory, and we pledge ourselves to further the concerns dear to his heart - an expanding vision of the contribution pastoral care and counseling might make in a global renewal of human societies.

         

globespin.gif (21878 bytes)     Return to IPCNSR Home Page