Spiritual Care in the 21st Century – Chapter 2 excerpt

Chaplains in the United States are from diverse religious and ethnic backgrounds and work across multiple sectors. Chaplains can be found within the military, Veterans Affairs facilities, correctional institutions, hospitals, law enforcement agencies, fire departments, disaster relief organizations, airports, seaports, businesses, campuses, and more. The legal and institutional mandates for chaplains across sectors determine their specific roles within each location. This chapter provides an overview of the current state of American chaplaincy across eleven sectors, detailing the work and preparation in each field. There is no standard for training chaplains, as requirements vary by setting, and in some settings there are no requirements at all. The chapter divides sectors between federal government, healthcare, municipal, workplace, and campus chaplaincy.

Why training and preparation exhibit differences by sector

The title “chaplain” is not licensed or regulated in the United States. As such, chaplains across sectors have varying degrees of training and experience. Federal government chaplains are the only professional chaplains who consistently have to meet certain criteria in order to be hired; yet, those criteria can be waived due to a shortage of qualified candidates. Although certain sectors may not demand specific criteria for employment, employers may still adhere to the professional associations’ recommendations or hold their own standards in hiring and promotion decisions. However, there are no systems for enforcing the professional associations’ recommendations, and the guidelines set by employers and those set by professional associations do not always match. In some cases, the employers themselves may be faith groups rather than organizations in the sector.

Common across sectors: meaning, purpose, belonging

Across sectors, professional chaplains have a wide spectrum of workplace roles and responsibilities, ranging from the protection of constitutional rights to improving financial outcomes for corporations. Those working outside of federal chaplaincy have less defined parameters around their training and work, leading to an array of practices within and between settings. Yet, chaplains often share the goal of helping those they care for connect with a sense of meaning, purpose, and belonging through prayer, ritual, and listening. Chaplains are typically placed with people during the most vulnerable, uncertain, and difficult moments of their lives. Hospital chaplains are there for individuals who are dealing with grief or an uncertain prognosis. Disaster and fire chaplains are there for those in the wake of disaster, and law enforcement chaplains comfort families and staff after horrific crimes. Chaplains are embedded with troops during war and behind the fences of prisons, allowing for institutionalized individuals to gain some sense of normalcy through practicing their religions. Chaplains care for those in transition, whether it is into university, a new job, or a trip through the air or sea. Chaplains encounter those who are grieving and those who are in mental, physical, or spiritual pain and work to heal some of the brokenness in careseekers’ lives and in the world.