"Toto...we're not in Kansas anymore!"

Nope, but Alice definitely does still live here. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was published in 1865 and was authored by Lewis Carroll. Carroll, however was the pen name of Rev. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson[1]who was the Tutor in Mathematics at Christ Church[2]in Oxford. The story behind Alice is fascinating.

Dodgson was at Christ Church for forty-seven years beginning in 1850—first as an undergraduate, then as a “Student” (the Oxford term for “fellow”) and finally as Lecturer and Tutor. The Very Reverend Henry George Liddell was Dean of Christ Church from 1855 until his death in 1891. Dodgson was a friend of the Liddell family, which included three daughters—one of whom was named Alice. 

In 1856, Dodgson was also working as the Christ Church Assistant College Librarian. The back of the College library overlooked the Dean’s garden (as it still does) and from his office, Dodgson first saw Alice as she was playing in the garden. On Friday, July 4, 1862, Dodson and his friend, Robinson Duckworth, took Alice and her sisters on boat trip up the River Thames.[3]The group had a picnic in Port Meadow on and during the picnic, Dodson told a story of “Alice in Wonderland.” Dodgson apparently made up the story as he was telling it. According to Dodgson “in a desperate attempt to strike out on some new line of fairy-lore, I had sent my heroine straight down a rabbit-hole...without the least idea what was to happen afterwards.”[4]

Alice was enthralled with the story and asked Dodgson to write it down. Dodgson did so and, in November 1864, he gave Alice a hand-written manuscript entitled Alice’s Adventures Underground. Friends of Dodgson encouraged him to publish the manuscript and Dodgson hired John Tenniel, a cartoonist of some repute, to illustrate the book. While Tenniel was the illustrator, Dodgson micro-managed the Tenniel’s work and all illustrations had to meet Dodgson’s strict specifications. Interestingly, from the book and movie, we all know Alice as a girl with long blonde hair. In fact, Alice’s hair was short and black.

The book, now titled Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, was published in 1865 and on July 4—three years to the day after the picnic[5]—Dodgson presented Alice with the first printed copy of the book. Dodgson published all of his mathematical work under his own name and all of his poetry and fiction was published under his pen name, but he never publically revealed he was Lewis Carroll. Adventures in Wonderland was enormously popular and allowed Dodgson to have a very nice life-style. 

Alice kept the handwritten manuscript of Adventure under Grounduntil 1928 when she had to pay taxes following the death or her husband.The manuscript was sold to an American, Dr. Rosenbach, who quickly sold it to Eldridge Johnson. Following Johnson’s death in 1946 the manuscript was purchased by a wealthy group of benefactors who donated the volume to the British people (and the British Museum) in 1948 in gratitude for their gallantry against Adolf Hitler during World War Two.[6]

According to legend, the White Rabbit in Adventures in Wonderland is based on Alice’s father, Dean Liddell. Unlike the Rabbit, however, Liddell was very organized and a strict disciplinarian who initiated many reforms at Christ Church. The Dodo character in Adventures is certainly Dodgson himself. He spoke with something of a stutter—he called it his “hesitation”—and he was known as “Dodo” at Christ Church. One of the sights many visitors enjoy seeing is the “Alice’s Door” which connects the Dean’s Garden to the Cathedral garden. It is the famous door though Alice encounters after following the White Rabbit down the rabbit hole. Below is a picture of the door as seen by Cathedral visitors. However, it is not the door as seen by Alice. The door was used by Dean Liddell when he went from his home to the Cathedral to preside over services. Alice was not allowed to go through that door, so she never saw if from the Cathedral side. Also below is a picture of the door from the Dean’s Garden—as Alice saw it. Finally, pictured below is the back of the Library as viewed from the Dean’s Garden. The window from which Dodgson first saw Alice is the bottom window on the far left.

God’s Peace to you all.

Randy 

Alice's Door viewed from the Cathedral Garden.

Alice's Door viewed from Dean's Garden. (Alice's view.)

Library viewed from Dean's Garden. Dodgson's office is the bottom left (open) window. 

Dean's Garden where Alice played as a young girl.

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[1]Dodgson was an Anglican Deacon, but never ordained as a priest.

[2]Christ Church campus is a College within the Oxford University and a part of Christ Church is the Christ Church Cathedral which is the Cathedral of the Diocese of Oxfordshire. This will be explained in greater detail in a later post. 

[3]The Thames is a small river in Oxford and forms the border of the Christ Church Meadow behind the College/Cathedral. Within Oxford, the Thames is often references as the “Isis.” 

[4]Much of what is in this post is taken from a brief biography of Dodgson by Jim Godfrey, Cathedral Verger at Christ Church, Oxford as well as conversations with Jim.

[5]And in no way in celebration of Independence Day in the USA.

[6]https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/alices-adventures-under-ground-the-original-manuscript-version-of-alices-adventures-in-wonderland

“Brilliant” Is Good and “Good” Is Brilliant...

 ...or, They Talk Funny Over Here, Part II.

     Some of you may be curious about what an “internship” at Christ Church Cathedral entails. The job description I received via email a few months ago said I could “expect some Liturgical responsibilities, moving chairs and everything in between.”
     Thus far, virtually everything has been on the “chair moving” side of the spectrum. However, on our first Saturday in Oxford (June 30) there were two ordination ceremonies and I had the role of “Crucifer” at each ceremony. (I carried the crucifix at the head of the of the processions.) I am happy to report that my performance was flawless—I didn’t drop the crucifix even once.

     Last Sunday, Darla and I “served” at the Christ Church 11:00 Eucharist. I was the Crucifer and she was one of the two torch (candlestick) bearers in the processionals. 
     Otherwise, my work has been assisting the Cathedral vergers. In the Episcopal USA tradition, a verger leads the procession in and out of the service. Some parishes use a verger for every Eucharist (Holy Communion) service, but it is my experience that most parishes use a verger only on High Feast days, or not at all. On the other hand, the vergers at Christ Church have a wide variety of duties. On the liturgical side, they meet with clergy to help choose among liturgical options for the variety of services at the Cathedral. The services include—depending on the day of the week—Morning Prayer, Choral Matins, said Matins, Choral Eucharist, said Eucharist, Choral Evensong and Evening Prayer. At the bottom of this post is a link to the July bulletin for Christ Church Services and Music offerings. While the Cathedral has 500,000 visitors per year, you will see that the visits are made around a very busy and vital worship schedule. 

     The vergers also print the bulletins for each of these services and participate in the services in the traditional role of vergering: they lead the clergy during processions and escort the readers to the lectern and back to their seats as well as escorting the preacher to and from the pulpit for the sermon. 

     The less glamorous role of the verger is the maintaining the physical plant of the Cathedral— that is where I come in. Because of the many and varied services, movable/stackable chairs constantly need to be set out, moved re-stored. These transitions occur at least once a day and often more than once. The Cathedral is quite proud of these chairs. They are relatively new and very “sturdy”—i.e., they are heavy. Also, the chairs come in sets of one, two, three and four chairs. The sets of three and four are quite heavy. As it turns out, four years of college, three years of law school, a 35-year law practice and two years of seminary have left me uniquely qualified to move these Cathedral chairs—and I am given the opportunity to do so quite often. 

Some of the sets of four chairs.

    However, I do not want to be understood as only a “chair mover.” In fact, my unique qualifications extend to storage-room cleaning and “tidying.” I know that my qualifications for this cleaning are unique, because no verger here can recall any of these storage rooms being cleaned. (However, the longest tenured verger has only been here twenty-four years, so someone with my credentials my well have cleaned these rooms in the 1100-year history of the Cathedral.)

     In all seriousness, the vergers with whom I work very closely are wonderful people. There are three full-time vergers (Matt, Jim and Matthew) and a half-time verger (Emily). Each of these people are delightful and never tire of answering my continuous questions about the services and the history of Christ Church Cathedral. In short, every morning I look forward to my day “on the floor” of the Cathedral. 

     This brings me to “brilliant” and “good.” I had not been here more than two days when I began to feel that perhaps I am something special. It seemed that with every task I completed I was told that my job was “brilliant!” However, I then began to notice that many others were often told they were performing brilliantly—and for seemingly the most mundane tasks. Set out the hymnals... “brilliant!” Return from lunch and report for duty... “brilliant!” Take out the trash... “brilliant.” ...and the list could go on and on. However, it wasn’t until several days after I started that I was told that I had done a “good” job on a more significant task. I queried one of my verger pals and it was explained that “good” is a compliment and “brilliant” is merely acknowledgement of a completed task (or the promise to complete a task). So, “brilliant” is the equivalent of our “good” and vice versa. I am told that “terribly good” is an ultimate compliment... I’m still waiting on that one. 

     My next post will discuss some of the history of Christ Church. In the meantime, God’s Peace to you all.

Randy

https://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/JULY%202018%20FINAL.pdf

“The scout will be in today to hoover” ....

“The scout will be in today to hoover” ...... or, “They Talk Funny Around Here—Part I”

This is the first blog post since the end of Clinical Pastoral Education last Summer. I have not posted because my “Middler” year (second year) of Seminary was pretty uneventful and I envisioned the blog to be a way of describing interesting Seminary experiences rather than a diary. The year can be summed up quickly:

Ø  I passed all courses;

Ø  I was a Seminarian at St. John’s McLean for both Semesters;

Ø Darla and I did not go to Jerusalem in January as planned because Darla inconsiderately fell and broke her kneecap on Christmas afternoon;[1]

I will continue as a Seminarian at St. John’s next year. There are some interesting things happening there and I have some interesting plans for my Senior year of Seminary—but those will be the subject of a blog as we get nearer to the new semester.

As many of you know (and all of you who follow Darla’s Facebook page know) we are in England for most of the Summer. I am privileged to be an Intern at Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford, England. Christ Church Cathedral is unique in the world in that it is the only cathedral that is also a part of a college. In return for my work, the Cathedral provides us with accommodations as well as lunch for me each day that I work. This brings me back to the “scout” and “hoover.”

For most of my life, when I heard the term “scout,” I immediately thought of Rowdy Yates—the character played by Clint Eastwood in the TV series Rawhidewhich appeared in the early and mid-60s. Rowdy Yates was the cool scout who rode ahead of the cattle drive and often “saved the day.” 

“Hoover” is a city in North Shelby County, Alabama—and I’ve never heard it used as a verb.

It turns out that a “scout” in England is a housekeeper; and “to hoover” is to clean with a vacuum cleaner. The line in question was uttered by someone at the Cathedral as she handed us the key to our accommodations. Darla and I met our scout recently and she is a delightful lady by the name of Jean.

Regarding our accommodations: we are in a house owned by the Cathedral and it is just under a mile from the house to the Cathedral. Within the house, Darla and I have.........a room. There are seven rooms in the house that are occupied by graduate students, a cook at the Cathedral and us. We are on the ground floor with one other student, the dining room, a kitchen.....and one bathroom we share with the student on the floor.

For those of you keeping count: in 23 months, I’ve move Darla from a home in Mountain Brook, AL to a townhouse in Alexandria, VA to a room in a boarding house. I’m certain she’s on pins and needles in the excitement of anticipation for our next move. 

Stay tuned for Part II of “They Talk Funny Around Here.”

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[1]This is a very serious injury and Darla worked very hard in rehab. She has recovered remarkably well and I am very proud of her. 

When in Rome....

When in Rome…

            My last blog discussed the process of securing a Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) position. I have now completed seven weeks of my ten week CPE unit, so I believe it is a good time for a status report.

            My title at Sibley Memorial Hospital is “Chaplain Intern.”  I know this because my official Sibley name tag says so. I typically introduce myself as “an intern with the Chaplain’s office.” It seems that either the patients and family don’t pick up on the name tag or the introduction, or they are diplomatic in their comments, because only a few have remarked that I must be in the midst of a “second career.”

  CPE has two components to it. 75% of the time is devoted to visits with patients and family.  The other 25% is spent in sessions with my supervisor and peers. There are four other seminary students in the Sibley CPE. One is my classmate who was a good friend before CPE started. Two are Brothers with Catholic monasteries and in training to become ordained. One brother is part of a Franciscan Order and the other is in the Carmelite Order. The remaining peer is concluding her studies at Wesley Seminary and will be ordained by the Methodist Church next spring.

 

At the beginning of the CPE, we split up various units of the hospital for routine coverage. I cover the ICU, Same Day Surgery, a wing of the skilled care rehab unit and the Memory Care Unit. I wanted a broad range of experiences—and I got it. My patients run from the teenager in the hospital only a few hours undergoing a minor procedure to patients who are spending their last years at the hospital with varying degrees of dementia. I have patients who know they will be going home in good health and with many productive years in the future and I have patients who are actively dying. While a majority of my patients identify with a Christian tradition, I see patients from Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and other faith traditions as well as agnostics and atheists. Significantly, the chaplain’s role is to provide emotional support as well as spiritual support, so we seek meaningful encounters with patients of any faith tradition or even of no faith tradition.

Most of the patient visits are “cold calls” in the sense that I am meeting the patient for the first time armed only with some very basic information that can be gleaned from the patient’s chart. Somewhat to my surprise, very few patients decline my offer to spend some time with them. I’ve encountered no one openly hostile to my knock on the door, but there have been a few who made it clear they have no desire to speak to a chaplain.

The visits run in length from about four minutes to over an hour. The visits in Same Day Surgery are typically relatively brief because they are in a holding room waiting to be transported to the operating room. Otherwise, as I enter a room, there is no way to predict whether a visit will be long or short. There is also no way to predict the direction a conversation will take. These discussions sometimes include only a passing reference to faith (until the end) and sometimes focus on beliefs and questions of theology.[1] I always end a visit with an offer to pray for the patient and/or family. Somewhat to my amazement (with respect to the patients who have agreed to speak to me) virtually every patient immediately accepts the offer to pray with them. I am confident that this does not speak to my pastoral skills, but rather to the almost universal desire to connect with God during times of stress.

Often, the conversations with patients are enjoyable and laughter is frequent. There are, however, some conversations in dire circumstances. I will share only two examples with you. On one occasion, I responded to a page from the ICU. When I arrived, there were no family or friends present and the nurses told me that the elderly patient was actively dying and would probably live only a few more minutes. There was, of course, nothing I could do but pray. It struck me as I prepared to pray that it would be a prayer for both the patient and the nurses who were obviously distraught. I said the prayer and then continued to hold the patient’s hand and stroke her head until she was pronounced dead about fifteen minutes later. It was an experience I will never forget.

The second example occurred in the telemetry unit. I visited a patient who appeared to be healthy, but I could immediately tell that she was upset and very “down.” After several minutes of conversation, she disclosed that her cancer had returned and earlier that day she learned that her situation was “incurable.” She was still waiting news about how much life expectancy—and quality of life—she might have. This conversation lasted almost 90 minutes and I have had the privilege of seeing her several times since.

I do not want to leave the impression that each day is emotionally draining. To the contrary, there have been many more visits with patients and family when we celebrated successful surgeries, good news, or impending release from the hospital. However, no matter the direction of a visit, every opportunity I’ve had to sit down with a patient or family has been rewarding and educational.

So, you ask, why is this blog titled “When in Rome…”? It has to do with my daily commute to and from the hospital. The Metro D.C. area has the reputation as one of the worst in the country for traffic congestion—one article I read ranked it as #6. It is a well-deserved reputation. Driving time to and from Sibley can vary from 35 minutes to well over an hour and there is no rhyme or reason to where you will fall on the spectrum on any day and…I have yet to encounter the doomsday scenario of a wreck on the interstate that could easily result in a drive time of over two hours.

The metro area has an incredible network of paved pedestrian/bike paths. The combination of the traffic problems and biking paths has resulted in a huge number of people who commute to and from work on bicycles—I am now one of them. My next door neighbors bike in and out of D.C. for work on all but the worst winter days. When I took the position at Sibley, a bit of research revealed that one of the bike paths runs within 200 yard of the hospital. I have now been regularly biking in and out of Sibley for almost six weeks. The route is 16.5 miles each way and takes just over an hour. It has been great fun and a super way of relieving stress after work.

Darla thinks I’m crazy.

God’s Peace to you all,

Randy

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[1] Of note, I do not see my chaplaincy role as “educator” on faith issues. Instead, I listen to the patient’s views and offer comments about faith only if the patient asks for my views. Even then, I make it clear in my comments that I provide only my thoughts and nothing should be taken as the way to approach God.

            

Clinical Pastoral Education

Today I want to discuss another rite of passage for first year (junior) seminarians: finding a Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) site. Virtually every Episcopal diocese requires that its seminarians complete a course in CPE before ordination to the priesthood and Alabama is one of those dioceses. A CPE course consists of 400 hours of pastoral care in a hospital or nursing facility setting. Seminarians act as chaplains under the direction of a staff of full-time chaplains.

While there technically are several ways to complete a CPE course, given the time demands of seminary, the only reasonable option is to enroll in a summer course which consists of ten forty-hour weeks.

The weekly CPE routine varies from institution to institution, but a small portion of the forty-hour week is spent in a classroom setting. Part of the classroom work is review and discussion of eventful patient or family encounters are reviewed. There is also didactic education from the CPE supervisors. There is some reading required, but it is not onerous. (Or so I am told.) During the majority of the week, the seminarian visits patients and family in a variety of settings, including: emergency department, ICU, med/surg rooms and rehab areas. The purpose is provision of emotional and spiritual support to the extent that support is wanted. Part of the forty hours are spent at the facility during weekend and overnight call. How much call and weekend time there is varies from location to location depending upon the acuity of the patient population. At the extremes of the spectrum are nursing facilities—with virtually no overnight call and little weekend work—to the local Level I trauma center where overnight or weekend call translates into almost constant presence in the emergency department.

There is no mandate that CPE be accomplished at any specific time. Nevertheless, the overwhelming majority of VTS seminarians want to do it between the junior and middler years. The rub is finding a spot. In order to have a CPE program, an institution must be accredited for the program and this requires a full-time staff dedicated to the task. This naturally limits the availability to large facilities. There are eight programs in the greater D.C. area and this includes Baltimore to the north and Fredericksburg, VA which is forty-five miles to the south. A confounding factor is that virtually every faith denomination requires CPE for prospective pastors, priests and rabbis. In metro-D.C. there are almost a dozen seminaries. While some seminary students go to their home states for CPE, most seek to do their training near D.C. Each CPE program accepts between four and eight applicants each summer from the various faith groups. While most seminarians do eventually find a spot, a position is not guaranteed.

Most students apply to multiple CPE programs, as did I. The standard application form is lengthy and requires several essays and many sites require additional essays. CPE sites interested in a student demand in-person interviews. All of this adds up to a significant time spent trying to secure a CPE position. The applications are due months before the CPE sites start offering positions and so the tension begins to build.

Happily, I received an offer from Sibley Memorial Hospital in D.C. and begin on Monday, June 5. For those of you familiar with Birmingham hospitals, Sibley is very similar to St. Vincent’s Hospital in several respects. They are of about equal size in terms of beds. While Sibley has doctors in all specialties, it is best known for care in the specialties of orthopedics, obstetrics and oncology. The emergency department at Sibley is Level II, so the on-call hours will not be as intense as those at a Level I facility.

My next post will most probably be a report on the CPE experience. In the meantime, I hope you are enjoying a great start to summer.

God’s Peace,

Randy