Journal of
Pastoral Care
Personal Reflections
Women’s Spirituality in
Gynecologic-Oncology: A Paradigm
Shift from Purity to Womanhood
John Paul Luft
Parkland Health & Hospital System, Dallas, Texas
Abstract
While women have traditionally been given an image of womanhood, purity, and even motherhood it is important for the
spiritual care provider to help women in uncovering their own spiritual lives; especially within the care and treatment of
gynecologic-oncology.
Keywords
Women’s healthcare, women’s spirituality, gynecologic-oncology, spiritual care
Introduction
The late Marcella Althaus-Reid in her book, From Feminist
Theology to Indecent Theology (2004) is a great primer in
understanding the role religion has played in colonialization
of the Americas, and especially, in the lives of women in
Latin America and into North America. Althaus-Reid also
asserts that systematic theology being constructed out of
the early Christian communities with their pains and strug-
gles does not necessarily reflect the lives of women in Latin
America, the modern woman, or even women and men of
varying cultures, social and economic realities. It becomes
very difficult to assimilate images of spirituality that are
based on communities abroad with differing socio-eco-
nomic, political, physical, and emotional needs. And, in
the care of women in gynecologic-oncology I have found
the same to be true. One model of spiritual care does not
fit all, and women coming from various backgrounds each
dealing with similar conditions do require that each woman
be given the opportunity to frame, and shape her
spirituality.
While a second year clinical pastoral education resident
at Parkland Memorial Hospital I was assigned the gyneco-
logic-oncology unit within the Women and Infants’
Specialty Health section of the hospital being that I was
specializing in women and infants’ health. As a young gay
Hispanic unwed man not familiar with women’s healthcare
needs or experiences I was uncertain that I was up to the
task. However, what I did have in common with patients on
¿¿Counseling
Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling
2016, Vol. 70(4) 287-288
(2) The Author(s) 2016
Reprints and permissions:
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DOI: 10.1 177/1542305016669733
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this unit was our innermost yearning for something more
and greater than ourselves in moments when we needed
‘ft’ most. That it is easy for me to define as God within the
Christian Baptist construct, but for most women I encoun-
tered this was not the case. Some women came from
Roman Catholic backgrounds, Eastern religious exprès-
sions, no religious traditions, and assumed spiritual lives
which fed their souls. It is within this context that I learned
to develop relationships with women not just because of
what was happening to their bodies, but also because of
what was going on inside of them that needed expression.
Religion to Women
Part of what Althaus-Reid expresses in her book is the
notion that religion/faith is handed down and over to
women as a means of catechism, and assimilation without
asking vital questions of context. How does the theology of
Mary (the blessed Virgin) inform women in poverty-
stricken countries where rape is a commodity? How
does a woman keep from becoming impure, violated, and
dirty in menstruation when she beholds the blessed Mother
who is free of these social and biological conditions? The
motivation of the theologians must be taken into account
Corresponding author:
John Paul Luft, Parkland Health & Hospital System, 5200 Harry Hines
Boulevard, Dallas TX 75235, USA.
Email: jluft8056@yahoo.com
288
when considering how faith is to be transmitted to women
and minority groups.
Most of the women of Dallas County have no history of
preventive medicine, or ever went to the doctor’s office
except when their bodies told them it was time to go in,
and more often than not I would encounter young and
older women being diagnosed with terminal conditions.
Without access to preventive healthcare most women fly
under the radar of providing for their own bodily needs
because of the perception that a mother (like Mary) is to
care first for her children and family. It always seemed as
though each woman was highly devoted to her family at her
own expense, and unfortunately the cost ended up being
paid with her own life. I was struck by this sense of loss,
and these women were not my mother or sister. But, in a
greater sense all of them were mothers and sisters to me
and especially their families. In our religious institutions we
see women most often involved in the life of congregations,
missions, and charitable events giving of themselves with-
out anyone ever asking how they were doing.
Using the Marian theological context the paradox hap-
pens to be the story of the “real” Mary and the Mary
developed by the Church with all of its ascriptions about
her and what we believe about her. The Mary in the biblical
narrative and certainly in a Galilean Jewish woman in the
1st century AD would have more in common with women
across the world than that constructed by the Church in all
her glory, purity, and divinity. A theology for women that is
constructed from the bottom up shedding light on the
realities of women would certainly honor women through
any context, time, and era.
Conclusion
What do we have to gain in the delivery of spiritual care if
nothing more than the ability to journey with others in the
search for meaning-making, restoration of life/resilience/
hope, and sacred duty of repairing the world? Women’s
lives have been greatly affected and altered by each
Church’s theology, assumptions of purity, biological impera-
tives, and unchecked motivations. Gynecologic-oncology
has offered a unique perspective into the lives of women
facing the very images set-up for them in a society not
ready to address their innermost being. Allowing women
the opportunity to claim their voices, their bodies, imper-
fections, and faith in the provision of spiritual care can help
women dealing with gynecologic cancers as they tread
Journal of Pastoral Care & Counseling 70(4)
through their fears, anxieties, uncertainty, and ambiguity.
It is this type of ambiguous loss that is at the heart of
women suffering from gynecologic cancers and also the
most appropriate for the chaplain to assist in addressing
and honoring women for who they are.
Traditional models of pastoral care intend to offer sup-
port and care to women in utilizing religious means of
coping, meaning-making, and ritual at the cost of continual
alienation and imparting unhealthy models of spirituality. I
contend that using the discipline and a narrative approach to
spiritual care can be an effective way of delivering care to
women afflicted with gynecologic cancers. But, what does
this say about traditional means of ritual, meaning-making,
faith ascription, and pastoral care? While, for the most
part, women have been coping and finding hope through
traditionally assumed means of care does not detract from
the fact that effective and quality spiritual care can, and has
been provided. As a critic, provider, and life-long learner I
am always brought back to the foundational elements of
care, and understanding faith. When situations and circum-
stances do not seem to fit the model offered then we lean
on time-honored tradition in helping us better understand
what it means to suffer, provide care, and find wholeness.
The cohesive nature of spiritual care can be found in
religious traditions throughout the world in wanting to
bring the outcast, sick, and imprisoned into right relation-
ship and fellowship of the whole community. Journeying
with women through their narrative, and ability to claim
ownership of their faith and lives will allow for interven-
tions particular to each woman. Some new, some already
practiced, and some on the horizon.
Reference
Althaus-Reid, M. (2004). From feminist theology to indecent theology.
London, UK: SCM Press.
John Paul Luft, an ordained Baptist minister, is a graduate
of the Baptist University of the Americas and attended
Brite Divinity School and currently serves as a Chaplain II
at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas,Texas. A member
of the College of Pastoral Supervision & Psychotherapy he
serves on the Institutional Ethics Committee, and CPE
Ministry Team. He completed clinical pastoral education
residencies at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Health Care in San
Antonio, Texas with a second year at Parkland HHS in
Dallas, Texas.
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