# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1953_S731
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS . 731

juals in the spring of 1952 to secure legislation which would
additional numbers of refugees to come to this country.
ess did pass the McCarran-Walter Immigration Act, but
ct contains no provision for the admittance of refugees out-
of the quota system. Several new bills, pointed at the reception

ynod will be ready with the will and the means to respond
‘getically to the new Samaritan call and to reactivate its mis-
BH'of mercy. To this end the Department of Social Welfare is
‘preparing tentative plans which can and should be put into
eration as soon as enabling legislation is passed.

2. Clinical Training in Pastoral Care

py Training in Pastoral Care is not a new endeavor. We have
filways taught Pastoral Care in our seminaries, and the result has
heen, under the blessing of God, a ministry which, in the fullest
sense of the term, merits the appellation “pastoral.”
fF’. In the course of the last quarter century, however, a new
Fmovement in ministerial education named “Clinical Pastoral Train-
bing’ has appeared. This movement postulates that if the pastor
is to minister effectively to people, he must know not only theology,
_ but people as well, and that he can gain such knowledge of people
Fonly by actually working with them. The knowledge of people
and their psychological reaction to given approaches is particularly
f valuable in dealing with the mentally and physically ill, the im-
; prisoned and other institutionalized people. Therefore this train-
F ing in “interpersonal relationships” is given in a clinical setting,
E a hospital, prison, or other institution. Actual visiting and con-
; sultation with patients under the supervision of a trained chaplain
is combined with studies in psychology, psychiatry, hospital ad-
: ministration, medical practice and terminology, and other related
_ subjects. Thus the. student is better able to preach and to teach
the Word of God to people who are often difficult to reach and
who, by reason of infirmities of many kinds, present unusual
resistance to the Gospel.
The idea of Clinical Training in Pastoral Care originated with
a chaplain in a mental hospital more than a quarter of a century.
ago.. It was then picked up by other chaplains, and the first
organization to promote clinical training for pastors, called “Coun-
cil for Clinical Training,” came into being. Some time later another
group of chaplains formed the “Institute for Pastoral Care.” These
two organizations have conducted courses in a number of hospitals
for two decades, and many theological students and pastors, among