INTERNATIONAL
PASTORAL
CARE
NETWORK
FOR
SOCIAL
RESPONSIBILITY
REFLECTIONS ON THE HISTORY OF THE
IPCNSR
by Tom Summers
I
remember vividly participating in the first convening of interested persons from the
various cognate groups in Chicago, following the annual convention of ACPE in the fall of
1984. Howard Clinebell and John Thomas were the co-conveners of the meeting.
There were about a dozen of us there. I was a representative from the Association of
Mental Health Clergy. The idea of a Pastoral Care Network for Social Responsibility
grew out of the earlier work that had been done by Howard Clinebell with the AAPC.
There was much excitement at this 1984 meeting felt by those clinical pastoral persons
whose devotion toward integrating social justice with pastoral care was now getting
organizationally developing in the United States. The most critical social need at
that point seemed to rest in the matter of nuclear disarmament, since the global threat of
a "nuclear winter" was sensed amidst the cold war.
I attended the first international Pastoral Care for SR meeting in 1989 in Teplice
of the former Czechoslovakia. Upon arriving at the Prague airport, I remember the presence
of the communist police at the runway, meeting passengers. There was no unnecessary
detaining, but the scrutiny was felt. Also, a communist official was assigned to be
present at our international meeting in Teplice. After awhile, it seemed that the
official felt very comfortable with the meeting. As a matter of fact, he seemed to enjoy
us; he began to feel like a friend. One afternoon, a worship service was arranged
in a church down in the little village. Parishoners came and greeted us.
Howard Clinebell was our spokesman; and, through an interpreter, he spoke words of
friendship. The people there warmly embraced us all. Prior to my trip to
Teplice, I had developed a Walk for Peace in South Carolina with the purpose of raising
money, through pledges, to help defray travel expenses for some of the conference
participants. Accompanied by 3 other chaplains and CPE supervisors, a 2-day march
was conducted from near Columbia, S.C. to the border of the Savannah River Site (a nuclear
weapons plant) in a driving spring rainstorm. Upon our arrival at the SRS, we
sprinkled corn meal on the ground (a Native American custom) to symbolize the cleansing of
the space.
I
remember vividly participating in the first convening of interested persons from the
various cognate
groups in Chicago, following the annual convention of ACPE in the fall of
1984. Howard Clinebell and John Thomas were the co-conveners of the meeting.
There were about a dozen of us there. I was a representative from the Association of
Mental Health Clergy. The idea of a Pastoral Care Network for Social Responsibility
grew out of the earlier work that had been done by Howard Clinebell with the AAPC.
There was much excitement at this 1984 meeting felt by those clinical pastoral persons
whose devotion toward integrating social justice with pastoral care was now getting
organizationally developing in the United States. The most critical social need at
that point seemed to rest in the matter of nuclear disarmament, since the global threat of
a "nuclear winter" was sensed amidst the cold war.
