Spiritual Services

Our chaplains are here to support you. Professionally trained, chaplains help patients and families cope with distress from illness, injury and unanticipated life events.

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Meditation Spaces

A health crisis, whether you are a patient or family member, can be emotionally and physically overwhelming.

You may experience trouble focusing or making decisions. Sources of strength and practices once meaningful seem out of reach. You find yourself asking questions like “Why me?”, “What does this mean for my life?”, “How will I get through this?”

Our chaplains are here to support you. Professionally trained, chaplains help patients and families cope with distress from illness, injury and unanticipated life events.

Chaplains respectfully meet patients and families within the context of their own beliefs, values, and situations. You do not need to be religious or spiritual to seek help from a chaplain.

Working with you and your family, a chaplain can provide or arrange:

Listening and supportive conversation
Understanding of the emotional and spiritual distress of illness and how it affects you and your relationships
Help with discovering sources of comfort and meaning for you in coping with the stress of illness
Prayer or meditations for relaxation and centering
Rituals and spiritual practices important to you
A bridge to your faith community, and to your clergy or spiritual leader
Support for you and your family in making health care choices
Support in facing death, or losses and life changes due to illness
Support for families in their grief when a loved one is dying and after

Catholic and Interfaith chaplains are available in the hospital between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. For emergency needs that arise after-hours, on weekends or holidays, on-call chaplains are available.

Additional Spiritual Resources

Below are worship opportunities and resources to help patients, families and staff experience worship and spiritual connection while you are here at the hospital.

Catholic Mass

Sundays at 3:30 p.m. in L12 Stead Children's Hospital Meditation Room and on Hospital Channel 115.

Muslim Prayer

Fridays at 12:30 p.m. in L12 Stead Children's Hospital Meditation Room.

Worship Resources

Resources for Worship and Spiritual Connection

Chaplains are trained to listen, but this is a chance to share from our experience: thoughts, stories, practices, and lessons on various themes which we hope may bring our readers some insight and inspiration in daily coping and living. Our views reflect individual views and not that of our department.

Visit our blog

Prayers, Poems and Blessings for Uncertain Times

Prayers, Poems and Blessings for Uncertain Times is a spiritual resource for staff, patients and families developed by chaplains for this time of COVID-19. Our hope is that it will bring you comfort and peace in these challenging days.

Download Prayers, Poems, and Blessings for Uncertain Times

Prayers for Parents of Babies on the Way and in the NICU

Download Prayers for Parents of Babies on the Way and in the NICU

Music has many benefits for wellness and well-being, whether listening to music or singing. It can reduce stress, boost mood-state and the immune system, nurture memory, promote depth of feeling, a connection to self, others, the transcendent. Meditative music can calm the mind and bring clarity and insight. Below are some suggested musical offerings.

Live Music: Music for the Soul
Mondays 12:00-1:00 pm in the John Colloton Pavilion Atrium

Add a little culture and calm to the lunch hour, enjoying reflective piano music with
George Ryder. George, a chaplain and a professional musician, will play the grand piano in the John Colloton Pavilion Atrium (Elevator D)

George Ryder playing piano Music for the Soul

The below sites introduce contemporary oral tradition songs from community songwriters across the country and world:

The Bird Sings

Singing Together to Nourish the Soul and Re-enchant the World

Praying
It doesn’t have to be
the blue iris, it could be
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few
small stones; just
pay attention, then patch
a few words together and don’t try
to make them elaborate, this isn’t
a contest but the doorway
into thanks, and a silence in which
another voice may speak.
—(from Mary Oliver’s book of poems, Thirst)

Zoom Prayer is currently taking a break. Recent podcasts and general prayers are below. If you would like to make a confidential prayer request, please email our chaplains at SpiritualSvcChaplains@ healthcare.uiowa.edu. General Hospital (GH) Meditation Room (L1, Elevator B) and L12 Stead Family Children’s Hospital Meditation Room are also available to staff for prayer and meditation. A prayer log or box is provided for written requests.

Prayers for Morning and Night

Watch our podcasts

For more information, contact [email protected]

Midweek Meditations are an opportunity for relaxation and renewal for staff, patients, and families.

Learn more about Midweek Meditations

A time for restoration and contemplation

Celebrate the changes of the seasons by walking the UIHC labyrinth, a winding path of twists and turns within a 22-foot circle. Walking the labyrinth is a centering practice with mental and physical health benefits. Whether used as a tool for calming the nervous system, mindfulness, reflection, prayer or other rituals, this 20-minute walk is a chance to slow down and find balance in the day. It is offered quarterly in the months of March, June, September, and December. At each event, information about how to walk the labyrinth, a choice of items for the journey (wise quotes, stones, battery votives, finger labyrinths) and other resources to enhance the participants' experience, are provided.

Walking the Path Can Serve as a Multi-Fold Opportunity:

To slow down and step briefly outside of time to catch new breath;
To reflect on your life’s journey with its unexpected arrivals, departures, and meandering processes;
To ritually set down burdens, to acknowledge past or current losses, or to set resolve for future goals.

Upcoming Walks:
June 27, 2023
September 21, 2023

Held at Iowa Lions Donor Memorial Healing Garden (between the main UIHC entrance and the water tower). Come anytime between 11 a.m.—2 p.m. to experience this 20-minute restorative walk! All ages are welcome!

Questions? Contact Joel Gilbertson: [email protected]