If you found this post and clicked in, you already know the importance of continuing your faith while living with dementia. You know that faith, and our religious traditions, are the foundation of our lives. Our relationship with Christ is the most important relationship we can enter into. So, why does it feel like we are salmon swimming upstream within our own communities once we have a diagnosis of dementia?
The compassion is there, the desire to continue in relationship is at least a glimmer in the hearts of our fellow faith community members, and research is growing in the understanding and importance of weaving faith into our care plans.
While many claim it is because our clergy are afraid of “behavioral issues” that lead the direction of the Church in dementia ministry, I have never come across a Priest or Deacon that brings truth to that statement. I have, however, recognized a lack of dementia literacy and the need to have someone help frame ways of ministering, supporting, and including those living with dementia and their care partners in the life of the parish. Rebuilding that bond between the Church and her people.
Our Clergy and Religious are some of the hardest-working individuals in our communities. They work the equivalent, many times, of 2 full-time positions and their formation likely didn’t provide the depth of knowledge frequently needed to navigate all of life’s trials as they minister to the vast needs held within each parish community.
I would like to propose to you a possible solution. In addition to advocating for an increase in formal education in dementia during one’s formation, we teach our Priests, Deacons, and Religious Creative Engagement methods. If you starting to shut down on me, hear me out for a moment.
Creative Engagement has formed many definitions over the years, many of them advocating for something that I believe deviates from its core. Creative Engagement is about using our humanity’s natural draw towards imagination, awe, and becoming the best version of ourselves throughout our lifespan as a way to navigate trials and magnify triumphs. By asking, as Anne Basting describes, “beautiful questions” and allowing ourselves to dream, to create something out of nothing, to use our imaginations and the foundations of improv (the “Yes, and” approach) we can provide relationship-based care and support. The arts and creativity play a role in Creative Engagement, yes, but so does our desire to grow in relationship with Christ, a draw towards the Beauty – towards the Divine.
Creative Engagement however is best experienced, not described. This is why I believe all parish leaders and staff should be trained in TimeSlips, host Memory Cafés, and engage those living with dementia, their care partners, and our care professionals in ministry, not expecting perfection, but by willing the good of the other. Opening the invitation to a community lead program that can not only provide moments of care, respite, and joy but can also be a way to draw in the faithful (dementia or not) into furthering their journey towards Heaven, deepening their relationship with Christ. God does not expect a specific neuro-cognitive or physical state to receive Him and His Love, Mercy, and Graces. No, His love and mercy are unconditional in ways we can never fully understand. Those living with dementia long for your friendship, your open arms, and the ability to continue on this faith journey, breaking bread together as we help each other get to Heaven.
Our job is to help pave the way, to welcome, and accompany those living with dementia and their care partners, seeing Christ in them. It is a joint effort for the Clergy/Religious and the laity to enter into a mission of helping those in pain, isolation, and fear reach the Hem of Christ.