ABSTRACT
I am sometimes apprehensive when I attend social functions for the first time. Sooner or later, I know someone will ask me what I do for a living. Even if I reply a bit vaguely, "I work in a hospital" or "I am an Episcopal priest," a follow-up question often elicits the fact that I am a pediatric hospital chaplain. This, in turn, is usually followed without a pause by a comment that takes the form of, "Oh, that must be so hard! All that suffering!" At some level, I expect those responses from the general public. What I was not prepared for was hearing similar comments from my sister and brother clergy, many of whom had been doing pastoral care substantially longer than I have.
