The Chalice of Repose Project ©

History at a Glance
Thirty-Eight Years and Vibrant (1973 – 2011)

Photo: Lynn Johnson

Organizationally: More than three decades of transformation characterize the history and development of the work of music-thanatology and the national and international pilot program, the Chalice of Repose Project. For those who are interested in more information on Chalice of Repose Project or the history of the field of music-thanatology, both are detailed in Transitus: A Blessed Death in the Modern World. For the purposes of the web, we have decided to encapsulate the years past in broad-brush outlines, and keep readers informed of newest developments in as much detail as is possible.

Thirty-Eight Years (1973 – 2011): We have flourished in several different locations, educational, clinical and corporate structures, and in six different settings as the needs of the profession, the organization, the School of Music-Thanatology, the faculty and students repeatedly, exponentially expanded and grew each decade. The nineteen pioneering years in Denver, Colorado included the original efforts at Ars Antiqua, a center for medieval musicology, followed by an undergraduate program at Regis University, and finally a master’s degree program at St. Thomas Theological Seminary. In 1992, in response to a corporate invitation, I decided to relocate the Chalice of Repose Project and the School of Music-Thanatology to Missoula, Montana, a small university town in the American Northwest near the Canadian border. There, we shifted from the contained and protected world of seminary academia into the bustling and chaotic heart of corporate medicine. While in Missoula, we were located in two different buildings over the decade. The period from 1992 to 2002 included a fruitful alliance with St. Patrick Hospital, (founded by the Sisters of Providence), four of the long-term geriatric care facilities of The Goodman Group/Sage Corporation, a local hospice, and peripherally, the Community Hospital. We also attended patients in hospitals and hospices in both Helena and Hamilton, Montana.

Thousands of Vigils Later: In the fall of 2002, after delivering over four-thousand two-hundred (4,200) vigils for dying patients in Montana, the economic picture was different and the organizational and professional needs of all involved had changed considerably. Faculty and clinicians had carried unusually heavy simultaneous teaching and clinical responsibilities for the decade, without having had any sabbaticals. In our patient-care programs, our on-call clinical rotations had been delivered three-hundred and sixty-five days of the year for just three months short of ten years, and as faculty, we did this while holding full-time academic appointments for the School, teaching three semesters a year: Fall, Winter, Summer. Truly, the professionals needed respite, and the central question had become sustainability.

International Expansion and Mt. Angel: After much consideration and prayer, in October of 2002, we took the opportunity to relocate the Chalice of Repose Project national headquarters and the School of Music-Thanatology to Mt. Angel, Oregon, a quiet village just one hour south of Portland, Oregon, specifically so that the work could expand and deepen. The timing was right and the decision was perfect! Here, amidst soft, rolling hills sprinkled with miles of vineyards and orchards, Chalice and the newly-formed Vox Clamantis Center found a perfect setting for professional renewal and expanded educational and clinical programs, coupled with vigorous national and international outreach. Following curriculum revisions, the School of Music-Thanatology made major new contributions in the field of palliative care by offering distance learning programs. Both Contemplative Musicianship and Music-Thanatology programs continue to attract students from North America, Europe and Asia. Individuals who successfully complete Chalice of Repose Project music-thanatology programs relate deeply to the idea of vocation, and go on to serve in the world in a wide and flexible variety of ways. Each of these ways is self-designed; some choose to work and serve in full time positions while others seek greater flexibility and only want part time situations. While all who successfully complete our courses are recognized as professionals, in that they demonstrate the highest possible standards of excellence and commitment, the work-related history of our graduates reflects tremendous creativity, idealism, commitment and particularity. Some serve or served in highly competitive paid/salaried positions in hospitals and hospices, and others, just as valuable, and just as needed, serve or served the world with pro-bono work. Examples of pro-bono work include those who donate services in a particular community to the elderly, the indigent, the marginalized, or to faith based communities or hospice prison projects. Many of our associates choose or have chosen combinations of both kinds of positions, paid and/or volunteered, tailored to their own ideals, creativity, previous education and credentials, financial situations, and local communities. Regardless of placement, music-thanatologists work and serve in every psycho-social setting: hospital, hospice, long-term care facilities, geriatric homes, parish ministries projects, faith-based community projects, etc. With several institutional collaborative relationships established and new ones being developed all the time, our work with both medical and educational centers continues to unfold nationally and internationally. It does so, to quote an epistle, in new and living ways, serving the dying and their loved ones. Because of this, musicians who have been longing to work in the world in a way that goes beyond performance practice find a profoundly new voice, direction and meaning, inclusive of spirituality.

The Opportunity to Learn about Us: The work of music-thanatology has been imitated, at times, by efforts to simply bring harps and harpists into hospital settings. We invite you to discover more about the Chalice of Repose Project. Being the first of its kind, it is the premiere music-thanatology organization in the world; our associates are the leaders in the field, with the most clinical, pedagogical and publishing experience in the field. The Chalice of Repose Project is the only organization able to verify the music-thanatology education of our own past or present associates. We advocate the value of formal, back-ground fact-checking because there is so much erroneous information on the web, and we have discovered that some individuals have misrepresented themselves to hospitals or hospices as having graduated from or completed our programs. If you would like to verify that an individual enrolled in and/or successfully completed our courses, at any time, and in any location, from 1987 to the present, please contact the main office by writing info@chaliceofrepose.org. Our commitment is to continue grounding the field in the world with integrity, artistry, spirit and substance, and in so doing, we bring the palliative and pastoral work to hospitals, medical settings and communities throughout the world.

Photo: Lynn Johnson

The Mystery of the Human Being: Music-thanatology brings together a disciplined and very particular contemplative curriculum which, in the end, re-unites medicine, spirituality and music. Our primary focus is on the patient and on the mystery of the human being who is becoming more thoroughly human. We work towards the relief of physiological pain and spiritual suffering that may be eclipsing the quality of life at the end of life. If pain is so extreme that it prevents interiority, the palliative care team will offer every modality possible for compassionate care so that an inner life may be cultivated or protected.

Dying and Becoming: In this light, we work to facilitate conditions in which an individual may find meaning even in their diminishment. We are committed to bringing the experience of death back into the fullness of the life cycle, and of supporting the shared experience of death with loved ones and communities, thus helping to transform the personal and collective experiences of dying and becoming. We are further committed to the possibilities of a blessed, peaceful and/or conscious death, especially when lovingly and deeply supported. Our second focus is on the health of the musician-clinician (and other providers and care-givers), for how we really are affects the vulnerable patient, their loved ones, and the entire health care team. We hope that this work inspires readers from many walks of life, all of whom might be seeking new and living ways of being within the fullness of the human life cycle.

End of Life Care: The Chalice of Repose Project programs for the care of the dying take place in cities across the country, from coast to coast, and though Oregon is the national headquarter for the corporation, Chalice has colleagues in many locations.