From Finances to Faith – the Journey of Chaplain Maggie Dorsey


by Meredith Florian


Self-described as “a searcher “ for her whole life, Maggie Dorsey found her way when she returned to the Laurel after raising her children in Orinda. Thrilled to return to the city of her childhood, she discovered The Oakland Center for Spiritual Living (OCSL). The first time she walked through the door, she realized “I am home.” The Center, sparked a larger spiritual journey for her. “We really believe in universal principles that are divine and spiritual principles that are universal. So we have people from all backgrounds, raised in all different kinds of religions.” Because of her lengthy work history and experience with business and finance at Pacific Bell, Maggie began running her own emergency communication company. While doing CORE training, she heard about a class on critical incident stress management training. She wanted to work locally with emergency responders and help them “have a space to process after a critical incident.” During the first day of training, while watching a video about the Oklahoma City bombing and a chaplain who was doing a debriefing, Maggie recalls “Right then and there I got my calling. I saw myself as a chaplain and a minister doing chaplaincy and crisis intervention and trauma work.”

Maggie Dorsey—ready for the call. Photo by Bryan Farley.

Click to enlarge.

She began the path of religious study and became a licensed Religious Science Practitioner. While currently serving as both Treasurer of OCSL and as a chaplain with the Oakland Fire Department, she continues her path to becoming a minister at Holmes Institute of Religious Science. But Maggie does not see herself as a pulpit minister. Her passion is pastoral care. As a Fire Department chaplain she is on call and no day is “typical.” She notes that in Oakland there are not many structure fires; most of the fire department calls are emergency medical. But after a recent fire involving the burning of 35 units and displacement of multiple residents, she spent a week checking on the emotional well-being of the residents involved. Her most intense task has been death notification. Though the coroner usually handles notification, if the coroner is delayed, the job falls to Maggie. “We don’t want to have the family sitting there in the unknown, hearing it from other people.” At the first scene she went on there were two deaths, and people in the crowd were “starting to get agitated.” She called the family together and gave them the news, also arranging for other sources of emotional support. “I see my role as just being a place of calm right in the midst of such crisis and trauma and pain and grief. They can cry, they can yell, they can scream, they can be completely silent, whatever they need. I just want to be a listener, be the witness.”

Maggie believes that interfaith spiritual principles can help all communities, including our own troubled Oakland. “Because the truth is, we need to know that we have so much available to each of us, and unless we look for meaning within ourselves, we can never find meaning from anybody or anything outside us. None of those things ever provide true happiness. Whatever our faith principles are, we need to embody them in our own lives, rather than just thinking about them.” In serving, Maggie also feels served. “Every time I go out on a call, it feeds my soul, just the privilege of serving firefighters, just bringing them water.” Maggie recalls the attitude of people just after 911, how there seemed to be so much more patience, so much more compassion. “Wouldn’t it be absolutely lovely if we lived every day like that?”

Maggie will be participating as a tent leader for women veterans at the East Bay Stand Down for homeless veterans at the Pleasanton fairgrounds, August 7 to 10. Five greater Bay Area counties are participating in this outreach event. Homeless veterans have already been screened. At the Stand Down, they will be provided with resources to find medical care, legal help, food, and clean clothes. "It's designed to help support vets to turn their lives around," Maggie says. More volunteers are needed, so if you'd like to help, go to eastbaystanddown.org. You can also email Maggie at medorse@pacbell.net.