A Ministry of Touch

           The Judeo-Christian tradition teaches that the poor are agents of God’s transforming power, and that it is incumbent upon communities to take care of its poor. The Hebrew Scriptures, for example, describe how a society is measured and judged by how well it takes care of its poor (Deuteronomy 16:11-12, Exodus 22:21-27, Isaiah 1:16-17 The New Oxford Annotated Bible).  In the Christian tradition The Gospel According to Luke portrays Jesus as proclaiming that the purpose of his anointing is “to preach good news to the poor” (4:18). The Catholic tradition is rich with papal documents, documents emanating from bishops’ conferences, and documents written from a liberation theology perspective, all of which speak to ministering to the poor, and, in some cases, see a preferential option for the poor as a biblical, and therefore, societal imperative. These traditions focus on providing the fundamental human needs of food, clothing, and shelter. Fulfilling these basic human needs sustain human life.

From a communication perspective, however, the phenomenological and ethical traditions as described in Griffin (2009), add a very important element to sustaining human life, namely, sustaining human dignity. This paper focuses on one very important, and yet often overlooked aspect of human interaction that sustains human dignity, namely, the healing power of human touch.

When I first began watching the documentary, I questioned its value in a graduate class in communication. But as I continued watching it, I could easily see why it was included. The documentary provides insights into how communication is at work in everything we do. Two key figures in the documentary, Father Francis, and Brother Michael are prime examples of how one’s verbal and nonverbal cues operate as a holistic system. In layman’s terms, their body language matches their words. They talk the talk, and they walk the walk. When one witnesses the genuineness of their nonverbal cues-- kinesics (body language), paralanguage (tone of voice), proxemics (personal distance), and haptics (touch)—and also witnesses the congruity between the nonverbal cues and their verbal cues, one is reminded of the phenomenological principle of “unconditional positive regard” (Griffin, p. 50).  These men enter into the world of the homeless without judgment.

I am most struck by Father Francis’ use of genuine human touch. In the documentary Brother Michael recounts a story of how Father Francis bathes a homeless man who cannot bathe himself, and who often defecates and urinates in his clothes. Father Francis’ willingness to touch the homeless man in an obvious filthy condition illustrates an unconditional positive regard for the homeless man’s human dignity.   Throughout the duration of the documentary, one notices Father Francis appropriately touching the homeless people as they wait in line to eat, and as they dine at the inn.  He quite often flashes a genuine smile that nonverbally communicates a welcoming spirit. The smile accompanies a warm greeting in which he inquires as to how the person is doing, and in which he offers a warm welcome. Fr. Francis further accentuates his verbal and nonverbal cues with a hug, a kiss, a shake of the hand, or a touch on the shoulder, all of which leads one homeless man in the documentary to liken the experience at St. Francis Inn to the experience of “being with your family again.” Later in the documentary, an elderly homeless man, echoes this response, when referring to the dignity with which the community of St. Francis ministers states, “They absolutely treat people with all the dignity and respect, no matter what you look like.”

The Christian tradition upholds the dignity of each person. Treating people respectfully and justly is not only a Christian imperative, but is also at the heart of the ethical tradition in the field of communication (Griffin, p. 52). From that perspective, the ethical tradition is both a lens through which we should look at all communication situations, and is also a paradigm from which we should critique all communication events.

                                              References

Griffin, E. (2009). Communication: A First Look at Communication (7th ed.).

 Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill. (Original work published 1991).

Straub, G. T. (Producer/Director). (1997). We have a table for four ready: The
            story of St. Francis Inn [DVD].