Suzanne Watts Henderson, senior director of faith and health at Interfaith America, spoke on the latest episode of “Health Calls” from the Catholic Health Association of the United States. 

In the episode, “Different Faiths, Same Goal: How Interfaith Engagement Elevates Human Flourishing,” host Brian Reardon and Suzanne Watts Henderson discuss how interfaith engagement elevates human flourishing, including in the healthcare and caregiving spaces.  

Henderson shared a story of interfaith engagement in the hospital where a patient was dying of cancer. His nurse had noticed he was in distress and in her undergraduate education, she had some interfaith engagement training, so she asked if she could help him in any way. He had said that he was ready to move on but in his tradition, it was essential to have a smudging ceremony to mark this transition. He didn’t want to go home because he didn’t have support there, but in a hospital setting, he didn’t know how to have this spiritual need addressed.  

Henderson continues: “This nurse … started collaborating with not just the care team, but with the fire people in the hospital. The pastoral care team was able to connect her with a shaman in the community who could come in and they actually held a smudging ceremony in a hospital, if you can believe that, in a way that brought the man peace. 

“It wasn’t just the man who benefited from this, it was the whole team coming around this beautiful sacred moment of transition and bringing the resources that they had at their disposal to address this very human need. They felt more human in their work.  

“We hear so much about health worker burnout and understandably so with the stresses and demands of health systems and the transactional way in which so much healthcare has been framed. We find that in story after story, helping people feel confident to engage with the humanity of patients also benefits them and therefore benefits the health system itself.” 

Listen to the episode to learn:  

• How Catholic healthcare is perfectly situated for the work of religious pluralism. 
• How social science research connects to human flourishing and can strengthen your own faith, worldviews, or beliefs.  
• Stories of how tending to patient spiritual needs enhances caregiving.