![\"\"](\"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/05\/Lisa-Masotta2-768x1024.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\u201cYou can\u2019t walk in with a hard-and-fast agenda,\u201d explains Masotta. From children to adults, she listens, talks, and prays with those who are dying, their families, and their caregivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Part of an interdisciplinary hospice team that includes a medical director, nurse case managers, social workers, certified nurse assistants, and grief counselors, Masotta\u2019s role is to provide spiritual and family support. She\u2019ll take a short religious history to find out a client\u2019s faith background and see what support someone currently has. Masotta may then visit weekly, every few weeks, or with some people, just once. \u201cHow often and how long we meet is up to the individual,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Masotta has long been involved in what she calls \u201cchurch work.\u201d She majored in philosophy and religion at Colgate before going on to earn her BFA in sculpture from Massachusetts College of Art and Design. A musician and artist, she spent her early career as a church choir director and musician in the Boston area, and worked for nonprofit arts programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2004, at age 40, she decided to pursue a divinity degree at Harvard. Masotta, who was raised Catholic, was heavily influenced by the late Coleman Barr Brown, Colgate philosophy and religion professor and university chaplain. \u201cHis ministry of wise listening and insightful guidance encouraged my sense of vocation,\u201d she says. \u201cHe\u2019s still my role model of what it means to be a chaplain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She entered Harvard thinking she\u2019d become a parish minister, but a seminar on grief and loss was so impactful that she started considering hospice work. Her experience a decade earlier, with a hospice chaplain who guided Masotta and her family during their mom\u2019s passing, also influenced her decision. She graduated with her MDiv in 2007, served in several part-time hospital chaplaincy positions, and in 2012 completed her Clinical Pastoral Education training. She began working with HopeHealth Hospice in 2015.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With those who are dying, Masotta often focuses on their hopes, fears, and joys, asking questions such as, Who are the people you\u2019re worried about? Who do you want to see and talk to? Do you have any regrets? Are there any projects you want to complete?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cSometimes I have no idea ahead of time what we\u2019ll talk about, so it\u2019s a discovery process. That\u2019s part of what chaplaincy is \u2014 to listen more than speak and follow the person from wherever their starting point is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Supporting family and caregivers is another large part of the job. \u201cThere\u2019s an epidemic of Alzheimer\u2019s and dementia, and the caregiver may have put their own life on hold for 5\u201310 years,\u201d she says. \u201cSo we discuss the challenges and we validate what they are doing. A lot is asked of families; as a chaplain, I can honor the care they are providing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She also emphasizes self-care and encourages caretakers to take a break. Her team provides pre-bereavement support, helping prepare patients and caregivers for the emotional, spiritual, and financial impacts of death and dying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Masotta occasionally conducts funerals, and she volunteers at a community center for grieving children and teens, using her art training to help kids express their feelings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWith hospice, we hope that people have a measure of peace at the end of life,\u201d says Masotta, \u201cand if we can be a part of that, then that is sacred work.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Lisa Masotta \u201987 brings comfort to those who are dying, their families, and their caregivers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1272,"featured_media":15101,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2],"tags":[354,1781,1481,2240,939,1381,68,2238,2239,90,210],"coauthors":[538],"class_list":["post-14753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-alumni-spotlights","category-alumni-updates","tag-alumni","tag-caregiving","tag-chaplain","tag-divinity","tag-faith","tag-grief","tag-health","tag-hospice","tag-mortality","tag-philosophy","tag-religion"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/palXSH-3PX","amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2024\/05\/Lisa-MasottaCrop.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1272"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14753"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15103,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14753\/revisions\/15103"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14753"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=14753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}