One Doctor's Spiritual Journey (So Far)

Health Progress, May/Jun 2006 by Phelps, Gregory

A NEW DIRECTION

By this time, although I was participating in liturgy, governance, and other duties in our church, my growing interest in church-and, more importantly, my growing awareness of ministry-was not being nourished. For quite some time, I assumed that in order to "do Ministry" (capital M), I must be ordained. I flirted for some time with the idea of pursuing the permanent diaconate. I also contemplated a detour from medicine by way of seminary studies, then perhaps missionary work. A bit of a perpetual student, I continued to become more interested in the "why" of medicine and not just the "how."

It was at this time that I found a particular professional "home"-or calling-in the treatment of alcoholics and addicts. Noting that I had had an upswing in referrals from people at our local drug and alcohol agency, I asked them why this was happening. I learned that I was the only physician in the county who returned their calls and willingly took their patients.

As the child of two alcoholic parents, I had life experience in this area. I found that people who were successfully trying to maintain recovery were among the most spiritually mature, and I enjoyed working with them. Also, I saw first-hand how faith helped addicts recover when not much else could. Like many, I soon noticed the difference between the "white knuckled" addict, struggling to hang on to sobriety, and the converted, transformed individual who had surrendered to God.

Those who sought God were often transformed from helpless addicts into reconnected, spiritually grounded, recovering addicts. And although many addicts never reach this transformative point, the struggle becomes much less difficult for those who do. Recovering addicts who surrender their burdens to God live for something larger than themselves. When they focus on the external, rather than on their internal addiction to drugs or alcohol, they are given divine aid in their daily battle for sobriety. Watching these addicts' spiritual development helped build my personal spirituality, because I saw them as tangible examples of what happens when one accepts God's gift of grace.

ST. MARY'S AND AQUINAS

After I left this country practice, and following a stint teaching family medicine at Mercer University School of Medicine in Macon, GA, I worked at three major medical centers, the last being St. Mary's Medical Center, Knoxville, TN (see Box).

It is at St. Mary's that I have truly found my "home." After working in the urgent care clinic for a few years, I became the hospital system's medical director. With this change of responsibilities came the possibility of attending a master's degree program in the theology of health care ministry at Aquinas Institute of Theolog)', St. Louis.

To me, the idea of becoming an Aquinas student was manna from heaven. Since I had two children in college at the time, I asked our parent company, Catholic Healthcare Partners (CHP), Cincinnati, for mission aid. CHP had provided such aid to a colleague in our pastoral care department. Initially, the people in CHP's financial aid department were a bit taken aback. They had given most such help to women religious or nurses-usually people being groomed to serve as vice presidents of mission. Before I applied, they hadn't had a non-Catholic physician turn up on their radar. Still, my argument-who better to promote mission and ministry concerns to physicians than another physician?-rang a chord with them, especially since it was championed by one of our sisters at St. Mary's.