Doctor, Will You Pray for Me? Chaplains and Healing the Whole Person

Critical Conversations: Dr. Robert Klitzman, Doctor, Will You Pray for Me? Medicine,
Chaplains, and Healing the Whole Person
About this Event

Critical Conversations: Dr. Robert Klitzman, Doctor, Will You Pray for Me?: Medicine, Chaplains, and Healing the Whole Person (In-Person Event)

Event Type: Book Discussion and Signing

Date: Wednesday, November 11, 2026

Time: 6pm

Location: The Crystal Room, Mercy Hall, University of Saint Joseph

Cost: Free and open to the public

Parking: Free onsite

Refreshments and book signing to follow

Description: The modern world faces religious, spiritual and existential quandaries, as new technologies redefine the beginnings and ends of life. Excruciating choices arise about when to turn off the machines - whether and when we should "play God." The COVID-19 pandemic made these dilemmas ever more acute. Increasingly, however, public discourse on religion and spirituality is polarized, with evangelicals on one side and vehement atheists on the other.
Psychiatrist and bioethicist Robert Klitzman explores how patients and families struggle to make sense of serious disease and threats of death and other medical crises, seeking hope, purpose and larger connections beyond themselves. Physicians and other clinical staff are frequently uncomfortable with these issues, and chaplains have been filling the void, developing valuable approaches and insights. Most Americans will die in hospitals or nursing homes, and face existential and spiritual quandaries. Many of their prior religious and spiritual beliefs will fall short, and chaplains will often be the ones to assist, partly by reframing narratives and understandings of illness and spirituality. Yet people often know little, if anything, about these professionals. Klitzman presents stories about the spiritual lives of patients and explores the role of chaplains - who they are, what they do and the challenges they face.
Drawing on in-depth interviews and the author's personal experiences, Doctor, Will You Pray for Me? provides vital information that can assist in medical care decisions. Robert Klitzman argues that a better understanding of the relationship between these realms will enable more holistic and humane treatment of patients.

Dr. Klitzman will:

• Explore personal stories of illness, death, and dying from the

perspective of patients and their families, and from medical

professionals

• Demystify the vital role chaplains play in our healthcare system
• Demonstrate a path forward for chaplains, current and future

healthcare providers, and patients and their families to address

illness and spirituality more fully and effectively in their own

lives and the lives of others

Dr. Klitzman will be in conversation with Dr. Benjamin Peters, Professor of Religious Studies and Director of the Core Curriculum at USJ.

This event is supported in part by the Floyd and Alice Buckley Endowed Lecture Series in the Humanities at the University of Saint Joseph.

About the Speakers

Dr. Robert Klitzman (M.D.)

Psychiatrist, Author, and Columbia University Professor

Dr. Robert Klitzman (M.D.) is a Professor of Psychiatry in the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Joseph Mailman School of Public Health, and the Director of the Masters of Bioethics Program at Columbia University. He has authored or co-authored over 180 scientific articles, and nine books, including When Doctors Become Parents, and has received several awards, including fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and has been a member of the Empire State Stem Cell Commission, and the Research Ethics Advisory Panel of the U.S. Department of Defense. His most recent book is Doctor, Will You Pray for Me?: Medicine, Chaplains, and Healing the Whole Person (Oxford University Press).

Dr. Benjamin Peters (Ph.D.) is a Professor of Religious Studies and Director of the Core Curriculum at the University of Saint Joseph. He is the author of articles, book chapters, edited volumes, and two books, Called to be Saints: John Hugo, the Catholic Worker, and a Theology of Radical Christianity (Marquette University Press, 2016), and Catholic Pacifist: The Long and Lonely Quest of Gordon Zahn (Catholic University of America Press, 2025). His courses look at ways that religious traditions such as Catholicism offer resources for students to critically engage with political, economic, and medical institutions in the U.S.

Any questions? Please contact [email protected].