Spiritual care of the woman physician: Insights from Edith Stein and the Catholic tradition

Abstract

In the face of physician stress, burn-out, divorce, and suicide, the spiritual care of the Catholic woman physician must be addressed. Employing the insights of Edith Stein and the Catholic tradition, this article presents both theoretical propositions and practical applications regarding the three primary spheres of the woman physician’s life: the spiritual, the familial, and the professional. Since woman’s ultimate vocation is union with God through self-gift, prayer must occupy a central place in her life. Because she is wife and mother, family relationships must be given priority over the professional activity that is also her inestimable gift to humanity.

Keywords:

• Women
• Spiritual
• Self-care
• Prayer
• Edith Stein
• Physicians

Notes

1. British physicians are opting to leave the U.K. National Health Service (NHS) for Australia. The article reports that “thousands of NHS staff are applying to work abroad.”

2. There is an interesting juxtaposition of contradictory ideas here: the study reporting that women physicians are three times more likely to commit suicide was conducted in Australia; simultaneously, British doctors are leaving for Australia.

3. Edith Stein (St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, patron saint of Europe) was born into a Jewish family on the Feast of Atonement. After some years as an agnostic, she converted to Catholicism. A brilliant philosopher and teacher, she had a special passion for women’s issues, especially the education of women to which she brought the genius of her philosophical and theological insights (Vatican News Services 1998). For more on the life of Edith Stein, see her unfinished autobiography Life in a Jewish Family (Stein 1986).

4. For instance, the following passage from St. Lawrence Justinian concerning prayer is found in Fr. Philippe’s Thirsting for Prayer: “In prayer the soul is purified from sin, charity is nurtured, faith takes root, hope is strengthened, the spirit gladdened. In prayer the soul melts into tenderness, the heart is purified, the truth reveals itself, temptation is overcome, sadness is put to flight. In prayer, the senses are renewed, lukewarmness vanishes, failing virtue is reinvigorated, the rust of vices is scoured away; and in this exchange, there come forth of living sparks, blazing desires of heaven, in which the flame of divine love burns” (Philippe 2014).

5. Our congregation’s (the Nashville Dominicans) A Short Guide to Praying as a Family (Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia Congregation 2015) may be a helpful resource as it offers concrete and practical suggestions for family prayer. The monthly family meeting is described in the book. Recently, a mother of eight children (including three teenagers) came to me and thanked me for telling her about the family meeting. She and her husband had implemented it over the past five months, and she said that it has revolutionized their family life: the teens have learned to make themselves vulnerable and to receive the vulnerability of others. These teens expressed their gratitude toward their parents for helping their family to be so close.

6. A format for praying with your spouse can be found in Philippe (2014).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sr. Jane Dominic Laurel

Sr. Jane Dominic Laurel, O.P., S.T.D., is an affiliate assistant professor of Theology at the University of Dallas in Irving, Texas. She is a member of the Congregation of Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia in Nashville, Tennessee. She may be reached at [email protected].