Spiritual Care Provider Networks – Chaplains of Color
December 21, 2020
The Chaplaincy Innovation Lab (CIL) is collaborating with the Fetzer Institute to support and build networks of spiritual care providers. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, racial reckoning and the legacies of racial violence, our first network will honor and support the work chaplains of color do supporting individuals and challenging racial structures. To name, honor and support chaplains of color we will collaborate on three interrelated initiatives. Each piece developed from conversations Aja Antoine had with chaplains of color working in a range of settings and geographic locations in the fall of 2020.
First, we hear a need among chaplains of color for community and candid conversation about their experiences. We invite chaplains of color to sign up to participate in Conversation Circles beginning in January 2021. These spaces will provide connection, reflection, collaboration, perspective-taking and resourcing particularly during these times of political, social, and economic scrutiny and upheaval.
Second, we are beginning a research project on “Race, Ethnicity and the Work of Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care” with Barbara Savage, a historian and Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social Thought in the Department of Africana Studies of the University of Pennsylvania. We aim to begin to explore and synthesize the work people of color have done as chaplains and articulate opportunities and challenges moving forward. This work will be used as the basis for further support and action.
Third, we will host a free online conference to focus on the expertise, compassion and care chaplains of color bring to their work, their experiences as people of color in this work, and the opportunities for everyone to unite in action around disparities in access to spiritual care. We begin with this list of existing resources for chaplains of color and commitment to expanding them. Lab staff are thrilled to collaborate with Rev. Marilyn J. D. Barnes, Rev. Kirstin C. Boswell Ford, and Dr. Asha Shipman in this effort.