Female Veteran Moral Injury Ceremony (3/7/24)

This ceremony is a part of a 12 week long moral injury program for female veterans. This event is led by the Rev. Canon Toneh Smyth, Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania;  V.A. clinician Keitha R Beamer, MSN, APRN, PMHCNS,BC; CARN-AP Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center chaplains, and participants of the female moral injury group.

This ceremony provides a space to be present with the veterans' moral sensitivity and moral wounds, share the truth of their military experience, and initiate them into a process of transformation we call "patient to prophet." Veterans who bear moral injury are not sick people with a disorder, they are responsible moral agents who have carried their moral burdens alone and unfairly. This ceremony allows the community the opportunity to relieve some of that burden by hearing, embracing and carrying the testimonies the veterans will share. By doing so, sharing the responsibility for the harmful consequences of military service.

What to expect: During the ceremony, veterans share their story of how they sustained moral injury during their time of service while the community listens to, and wrestles with, moral responsibility and civic duty. This sharing process helps relieve the veterans of the moral burden many too often carry in isolation.

The ceremony shifts the focus of the work away from individual therapy or treatment of the veteran and gives the work of deep remembering and moral reasoning back to the community. The presence of non-veterans and veterans together is necessary to advance the work of reconciliation.