Chaplains Experience Homelessness with Side-By-Side – Fall 2008

They looked out of place.  The six visiting chaplains from a local hospital did not know what to expect of their morning with Side-By-Side.  Suddenly in the minority, they appeared self-conscious and awkward among hundreds of homeless poor in Friendship Park at Loaves & Fishes.  It was a bit unsettling.

They came as part of their training in Clinical Pastoral Education from the clean and sanitary hospital halls to dusty Friendship Park: three Catholic priests and three women from various protestant backgrounds.  All had some experience serving the poor, mostly across the counter in a soup kitchen. Except for one bubbly person who could not wait to experience a place she had only heard about, they were reserved, somber and quiet.  Safely inside the comfortable Side-By-Side office, the visiting chaplains took a short quiz to test their knowledge of the homeless population, heard brief stories of real people who found themselves without a home, and prepared to interact with and listen to the homeless guests.

A quick tour of Friendship Park and its services oriented the six.  Then, armed with only a paper name tag, they were turned loose to wander, to meet, and engage with those who desired a listening ear and open heart.  Each chaplain found themselves pulled into conversation with someone who needed their presence.  A simple smile and hello led to longer exchanges.  Two chaplains found it impossible to break the sacred sharing when the allotted time was up.  One homeless man just got to the part of his story about his father’s death with the visiting chaplain.  She could not simply walk away, so she listened longer.

Another volunteer became deeply engaged with a newly homeless man, recently laid off from a professional job with a software company.  He lost his home and found himself on the streets.  He was without hope and considering suicide.  The volunteer stayed with him a long time and referred him to resources for help.  At least for a short while, this desperate man knew that he was not alone.

Other conversations were more cursory, but equally important.  So often men and women who live on the streets feel invisible and not connected to other people.  A friendly smile, a handshake, a kind word reconnects them with their own humanness.  Gratitude and mutual respect comes with recognition and acceptance of the other.

All six volunteers that day made a difference in the lives of those they met, however briefly.  The chaplains left transformed, with wide smiles, relaxed faces, talking freely, having connected their heart and soul with that of another.  They met God that day in the brief relationships formed on park benches in a strange place.  Who helped whom?  It no longer made a difference.