It is a fairly common occurrence for me to walk into a hospital room and have the patient ask me what is a chaplain or what it is I do. Have you ever wondered what a chaplain does? Chaplains serve in a variety of capacities and organizations, but there are common responsibilities and tasks that they have. This article will explain in broad terms what a chaplain does.
Religious and Spiritual Duties
Religious Services
One task of a chaplain is to provide religious services and opportunities within the organization they serve. Chaplains are representatives of religion and spirituality within a non-religious context. While churches, synagogues, mosques, and other religious organizations are used to holding services, hospitals, military bases, and universities are not. Part of the chaplain’s responsibilities is to conduct these services when appropriate.
Within the context of the military, this means holding regular services for protestants, Catholics, Muslims, Jews, and other religious traditions. Within other organizations, it might mean offering a devotional or service around holy days or holidays. The chaplain is also responsible for knowing what religious days need to be observed within their context and what needs to be done for these days to be observed appropriately.
Prayer and Rituals
Prayer and religious rituals are important to many people as they seek to connect to the sacred or divine. Sometimes the chaplain is the one who performs these religious rituals, such as a Catholic chaplain performing the Sacrament of the Sick, while other times the chaplain facilitates clergy from a specific faith group for the ritual.
Prayer is important for many people who consider themselves religious or spiritual. Chaplains often pray for those in their care. They pray for patients in the hospital, students before final exams, employees before big decisions, and military members during combat. Prayer is a source of comfort to many people and an important tool in the chaplain’s plan of care.
Diverse Religious and Spiritual Education and Advocacy
In many organizations, chaplains are responsible for the spiritual care of all the people within the organization. Many chaplains have the role of advocating for people within their organization to practice and be supported by their religion or spirituality as needed.
Some chaplains are inter-faith chaplains, meaning they do not identify with one particular religion but seek to care for people of all religious or spiritual faiths, or also people who do not have faith. Professional chaplains who identify with a particular faith tradition, such as Catholicism, Jewish, or Buddhism, believe in the right of all people to practice the religion or spirituality that is important to them.
Religious Identity
Within some organizations, such as a hospital or university, that are religiously affiliated, the chaplain may be responsible for helping the organization stay true to its religious identity. University chaplains at a religiously affiliated school might be in charge of a regular chapel service.
Spiritual and Pastoral Care Duties
Visiting with and Caring for Others
Many chaplain positions involve visiting with and checking on those within the organization. Healthcare chaplains visit patients. Corporate chaplains care for employees. Law enforcement and fire chaplains go on ride-a-longs and check on officers and firefighters. Military chaplains visit those within their unit. Prison chaplains visit prisoners.
Sometimes these visits are requested or suggested by fellow employees for specific reasons. These visits have a specific purpose and the chaplain will seek to engage about a specific topic or issue. Other times the chaplain is visiting with those under his care to get to know his people and develop a relationship with them.
Respond to Crises and Difficulties
Chaplains respond to crises and difficulties such as deaths, accidents, or traumatic events. This is often one of the first tasks people think of when they think of what a chaplain does. It is common for me to visit a patient in the hospital and for them to show a look of concern after hearing I’m a chaplain. People often think I have come to deliver bad news.
Police and fire chaplains respond to car accidents and fires with the officers and firefighters. Prison chaplains help give prisoners the bad news that a loved one has passed away. Hospital chaplains visit families who have lost a loved one.
Chaplains respond to difficult circumstances to be a presence that reminds people of the divine. They pray with people and read scripture. Chaplains are trained to recognize and handle their emotions in the midst of stressful situations. This allows them to focus on the needs and emotions of others.
Lead Debriefing Sessions
Chaplains are often trained to lead stress debriefing sessions for those who have been through traumatic events. This is often a formal debriefing, such as the one taught in the Crisis Incident Stress Management (CISM) training. These sessions often include a time for those present at the event to talk about what happened and how they are feeling as a result of what they experienced.
Crisis Incident Stress Management Training
Ethical Duties
Within the military and healthcare institutions, chaplains provide leadership for ethical issues. Military chaplains are involved in meeting with other military leadership about operations and the ethical implications. Healthcare chaplains often serve on the ethics committee of their healthcare organizations. The ethics committee helps guide the hospital in decision-making around patient issues and difficult cases.
Counseling
Most chaplains engage in counseling those in their care. Some chaplains are licensed counselors and many chaplains have some training in counseling. If chaplains are not licensed counselors then their counseling sessions will be limited or informal and they will refer to a licensed counselor or therapist if the person in their care has needs beyond their ability or training.
Conclusion
Not all chaplains have all of these responsibilities in their work, but these tasks are a broad list of areas many chaplains are responsible for. For more information on what specific types of chaplains do in their work, see our articles linked below.
Articles on Specific Types of Chaplain Duties
What does a hospital chaplain do?
Caleb is an ordained Baptist minister. He has been a healthcare chaplain for 13 years and has visited over 20,000 patients in the hospital over the last 7 years. He is in the process of board certification through the Association of Professional Chaplains. He is currently the senior chaplain responsible for the pastoral care department at two community hospitals in a larger health system.
