The National Clergy Project on End-of-Life Care

The project addresses the alienation between faith communities and medicine by gathering information on end-of-life issues from congregational leaders and clergy members across the United States. Our goal is for patients and families facing difficult medical decisions to receive better spiritual and medical care—care informed by the experiences and beliefs of diverse congregational ministers. The project will culminate in creating an educational curriculum designed by clergy, and widely disseminated to clergy as a free resource. 

Over the next few months a set of questions on end-of-life care are being sent to 2000 clergy members who have been randomly selected. The questionnaire will enable clearer understanding of the beliefs and practices of congregational leaders as they care for patients facing life-threatening illness. This will then directly lead to a comprehensive curriculum designed for clergy on topics of illness and dying.

If you have received the survey, we look forward to hearing from you. Thank you for your vital and invaluable support of this project by giving the gift of 18-20 minutes of your time.

Learn more about this National Institute of Health project by clicking the following video:

Preliminary results of the National Clergy Survey on End-of-Life Care can be viewed here:

If you have any questions about this project, please contact Rev. Michael Balboni, PhD at Michael_Balboni@dfci.harvard.edu