The Chaplaincy Innovation Lab is concerned about racial disparities in access to spiritual care. National surveys suggest some people of color are more religious than whites and may be less likely to have contact with a chaplain in some geographic regions. Barriers continue to limit the number of people of color who enter chaplaincy and spiritual care which have taken many forms in communities of color not always described under the frame of chaplaincy.
In Fall 2020, researchers from the Lab surveyed professional chaplaincy organizations to see what resources — groups, programs, efforts, initiatives — about racial and ethnic diversity, inclusion, multiculturalism or racial justice currently exist specifically for chaplains of color and recipients of spiritual care in communities of color. We first looked at the websites of 41 professional chaplain associations (full list here) and then followed up via email with all organizations.
We found several organizations had resources for chaplains of color; they are listed below. We also offer our own collection of resources here.
ACPE (formerly Association for Clinical Pastoral Education)
Resources provided by ACPE include:
- A community of practice — REM, or “Racial, Ethic, Multicultural Network.” Founded in 1981, REM was formed to provide leadership in recruiting students and supervisors of color. Today REM is one of the most active and vital networks in ACPE.
- Anti-Bias Task Force 8:46 is a program of 8 sessions, each 46 minutes long, all addressing systemic racism, white supremacy, and how to teach in ways that dismantle both. In 2021, The ACPE National Conference will address how to teach anti-racism. The theme is “Creating Space to Breathe,” a reference to George Floyd’s murder (May 2021).
National Association of Black Chaplains
NBCA is specifically geared for the upward mobility of Black Chaplains. They publish a quarterly newsletter, The Capsule. Its content includes how to navigate diversity in different religious spaces. NABC also hosts conferences. You can subscribe to the NABC newsletter here.
North American Hindu Chaplains Association
With its beginnings in the informal gatherings convened in Princeton, Yale, and Georgetown Universities, the North American Hindu Chaplains Association was officially formed in 2020 to support professional and volunteer spiritual care providers who are informed by Hindu teachings and practices.
Their objectives are to:
- Collate resources for Hindu chaplains and chaplains who support Hindus
- Develop guidelines around accreditation and endorsement in partnership with recognized bodies
- Provide opportunities for professional development and currency with standard best practices
- Raise awareness of the necessity for well-trained spiritual care providers in the holistic care and development of each and every individual.
Learn more at https://www.hinduchaplains.com/.
Unitarian Universalist Association
Resources provided by the Unitarian Universalist Association include:
- Justice and Inclusion: includes a variety of subsections that talk about social inequalities. Some inclusions are:
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- Sankofa Archives: advances a collection that digitizes, records, and showcases the lives and ministries of Unitarian Universalist ministers and laity of color and of Latin/Hispanic ancestries
- Memorial University of Newfoundland: print resources for anti-racism.
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- Resources for chaplains of color:
- Multicultural Leadership and Inclusion: introduction to multicultural guides for POC chaplains and what they need to navigate chaplain resources
Some organizations, such as the Spiritual Care Association, are currently developing resources. The North American Hindu Chaplains official website should be ready by February 2021. It will have resources for Hindu spiritual caregivers and those seeking to offer spiritual care to Hindus. One group of organizations, including the National Association of Muslim Chaplains, that are majority people of color, craft their resources and programming with communities of color in mind.
At the time of the survey, the remaining 37 organizations either did not have resources on their website (25), responded that they do not have POC resources via email (6) or did not respond (6). For the organizations that responded via email that they do not have resources, many expressed interest in using resources (compiled by the Lab or found elsewhere) to better support chaplains of color.
In preliminary conversations, we identified the following resources for and about chaplains of color. Please send other resources that should be on this list to Jiaying Ding at jiayingding@brandeis.edu.