Remove certain Clergy from the Military? Interesting Biran Dijkema - article from espritdecorps

I was reading an article from Brian Dijkema, in the Espritdecorps, a Canadian Military Magazine, volume 29, issue 5, p 42. I sometimes find a magazine I haven’t ordered come in the mail and normally read them all. This was one of them. The title is “Recommendation to remove certain CAF Clergy is Misguided.” The writer refers to Chapter 6, finding it troubling that it even made it to the Minister of Defence. It appears that the panel comes down hard on faiths that reject polytheism. Brian Dijkema states there is a “thinly veiled hostility to a number of Abrahamic religions… presenting caricatures of their adherents as violators of equality and social justice.” While I was reading this article I began thinking how all clergy were removed from one province's entire hospitals out West. I think that province has less people than our city. I talked about that before so I won’t get into again here. If you have been reading my articles for awhile, there was a talk from an American Medical Senior Doctor at Sunnybrook Hospital who wanted his young doctors to ask their patients if their religion offered them comfort. One doctor returned to him since his patient was Satanic. He asked the physician to return to the patient and ask if it offered him comfort. I don’t know who this panel is, or what the members consist of, their backgrounds, education, religious affiliations etc… I imagine with all the bad publicity of the military culture lately that the government is trying to change that. I am beginning to think more and more that military directed panels should consist of veterans and current military members, from all ranks and civilians with some expertise, whether it be psychology, psychotherapists, and apparently Theologists/ Ministry and Spirituality, if the topic is going to be about religion. If there is going to be a discussion about food, perhaps a dietician? Get my drift? The blind, leading the blind is a concept I used to hear a lot. The military is quite self efficient, at least it was in my time. It is a mini version of our society. We had our own doctors, lawyers, dieticians, dentists, hospitals, schools, police etc..including clergy - get the picture? I always had a positive experience with our clergy. Often they would accompany me when I had to go on a tough detail such as telling a relative bad news. I also worked in a hospital as an intern in my third occupation training and I can tell you, Chaplains were always busy. I stepped out from being a Pastoral Counsellor because there were those who found the term Pastoral Counsellor outdated. However being called a Psychospiritual therapist just didn’t work in my practice. I got tired of telling people I was not a spiritualist. What ended it for me was when a mother I met at an event asking me what I did and so I told her I was a Registered Psychotherapist, Registered Marriage and Family Therapist and Psycho spiritual therapist, she told me that her daughter also had the gift and continued to tell me basically what I think of as fortune telling. So that did it for me. I dropped the term and therefore eventually left the organization since there was no way of keeping my initial terminology. Members of Marriage and Family therapists in Canada are now also testing the waters for name changes. It is felt that the term is outdated. How do I feel? I don’t think that will cause too much confusion. I still see people who are married, cohabitating, living separate lives, dating, same sex, alternate sexes, etc….Mainly it is about the relationship, married or otherwise. Some want to breakup and help their partner and themselves when they declare the breakup. One of the things I do is incorporate all my education, experience with people, peer reviews, consultations and my own mentors. I find that some don’t even know who they are. It is not unusual for someone to breakdown and cry because they have been told by everyone who they are, who they should be rather than acknowledging them for who they are. Ask people. I don’t know what kind of panels are being originated for the Minister but since she is highly educated I am sure she will make the right decisions based on science and research. Perhaps she should have a researcher to review what is being forwarded to her to dismiss what isn’t reflective of the diversity of the military today, which includes tradition as well as positive changes.