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Hospital chaplains' infighting made changes necessary: boss

By: Carol Sanders

26/11/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 5

Rev. Carlyle Murrell-Cole (from left), Sister Jeannine Corbeil and Fr. Roland Lanoie filed complaint.

KEN GIGLIOTTI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ARCHIVES Enlarge Image

Rev. Carlyle Murrell-Cole (from left), Sister Jeannine Corbeil and Fr. Roland Lanoie filed complaint.

The priest accused of bullying chaplains at a Winnipeg hospital says most but not all of his staff embraced the changes he was forced to make in a divided department in an evolving institution.

At an arbitration hearing Wednesday, Father Gerry Ward testified that after he took the job of spiritual care director at St. Boniface General Hospital in 2005, changes had to be made in his department because of infighting.

When he told the hospital chaplains they were no longer allowed to send emails to their colleagues at work without his approval, he got a swift response from one of them: "Heil Hitler."

The remark was made by Sister Jeannine Corbeil, one of three chaplains who've filed a grievance against Ward, accusing him of bullying.

Corbeil, Father Roland Lanoie and Rev. Carlyle Murrell-Cole allege Ward verbally abused them, threatened to undermine their careers, then labelled them as troublemakers.

The email edict was an attempt to curtail some of the divisiveness, Ward said.

There also had to be changes in staffing to reflect changes in the overall hospital, he said.

Ward said nowadays, patients spend fewer days in hospital than a decade ago, so chaplains today have to respond more quickly.

The hospital became the major cardiac care centre, and that changed the "acuity" of the needs for spiritual care, said Ward.

The changes he made to the spiritual care department staffing and assignments were welcomed by most but not all the chaplains, he said.

Ward removed Murrell-Cole from his 13-year position in the psychiatric unit after the non-denominational minister was elected as the union representative for the spiritual care department staff. Murrell-Cole testified earlier that he was kicked out of his office and reassigned to another part of the hospital with twice the responsibilities. He told hearing arbitrator Arne Peltz that he was assigned to share a desk with another chaplain in a tiny office.

There were no chaplains with any psychiatric training, experience or desire to take Murrell-Cole's place, he said. He said before his assignment was taken away, he ran group sessions for the mental-health patients twice a week as well as making the rounds, assessing patients spiritual needs and counselling outpatients.

Ward testified Wednesday that the psychiatric unit didn't require a lot of spiritual care, so Murrell-Cole was shifted to another area of the hospital. The psychiatric ward eventually became an on-call assignment, and chaplain services were only requested a couple of times a week, said Ward.

The hearing continues Friday.

carold.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 26, 2009 B2

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5 Commentscomment icon

To "dyachison" and "BK91 Medium". Please note that your comments about the
lack of working together, and the taxpayer funding of these chaplains, are
made in ignorance. Firstly, it is my understanding that the problem of abuse
in the workplace at St. Boniface General Hospital is not restricted to this
department. There are other departments in which this is happening. The
bullying and abuse in some of these departments is well known in the
hospital. Many are afraid to speak out. So before you start spewing your
anti-church and anti-Christian venom you should consider the courage that
these persons are demonstrating in standing up for themselves and
symbolically, for the many others in the hospital, who are experiencing the
same treatment. It must be very difficult for these three individuals. They
deserve our support and prayers.

E. Sobering has a point. Some investigation into Fr. Ward's past would be in order, given the circumstances.

Why would Fr. Ward want to censure e-mail communication among his staff when the need for communication is so obvious? How does forbidding communication curtail divisiveness, as he suggests? Why would he replace someone with the qualifications and expertise in a specialized field, with one who has neither the training, skills nor desire to do the job? Why would he, as manager of a Spiritual Care department think that the spiritual (I do not mean religious) needs of patients in psychiatric care are negligible? How would the random shuffling of chaplains address the changes in the hospital overall?

The opinions given and decisions made by Fr. Ward would suggest a lack of good management skills and training in this area, a lack of understanding of what constitutes good Spiritual care and most likely a lack of training in hospital chaplaincy. It seems to me that some of Fr. Ward's decisions are made out of his need to have control in situations where he feels insecure because of his inability to do the job for which he was hired.

That the changes introduced by Fr. Ward in the Spiritual Care department were welcome, according to him, by most of the chaplains is surprising. How much experience and training do these chaplains have, compared to the ones he labels as "troublemakers"? Are they compliant out of self-interest or fear or are they simply mobbing? Scary!

'Father' Ward needs to be investigated.

I find this very distrubing that the people who are care for others and be so understanding can not work together. Maybe they should all find another line of work. Not working with people. Sad so sad.

Hilarious! Where's your Messiah now? Never really put this together before ... not only is the church not paying taxes, but tax payer money goes to fuding it as well!

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