Standards for Health Care Chaplaincy in Europe: Questions from an Orthodox Perspective

The Standards' ecumenical implications are critically assessedin view of the risks which their cross-denominational or cross-faithcooperation implications on the one hand, and, on the otherhand, their secular commitments to mutual learning, non-proselytizing,professionalism, and efficiency assessment might carry for chaplains'properly spiritual orientation. The problem posed by the ambiguityof language is raised as a warning that concepts like humandignity have a profoundly different meaning in secular and Christiancontexts. Invoking such concepts can be seriously misleading.