GORDON HILSMAN
I am now retired from a professional life of caring for patients and staff in clinical settings and conducting clinical education groups of students preparing to function there as chaplains and interdisciplinary caregivers. I worked for ten years as a Catholic priest and have been married now for 36 years, having partnered with my wife Nancy to raise our three children, all now professionals themselves. My take on spiritual care has been shaped by immersion in Twelve Step recovery, hospice philosophy, palliative care education, short term mental health patient care and grief work, advanced degrees in human development and pastoral counseling, and an evolutionary theology garnered from the visionary thinking of Jesuit paleontologist Teilhard De Chardin.
I believe solidly in a clinical approach to person-oriented care provided by whoever can best offer it, from any professional discipline. All of us can continue learning how to improve our care of people, especially by opening ourselves to consistent consultation and keeping abreast of advancing modalities and research.
ACADEMICS
BS Chemistry, Loras College, 1963
MA Theology, Aquinas Institute, (then) Dubuque IA, 1966
MA Human Development, St. Mary’s University, 1977
D.Min. Pastoral Counseling, Graduate Theological Institute, 1989