The biggest school districts in Texas have voted against allowing unlicensed Christian chaplains to replace professional school counselors and to evangelize students at will, leaders of a six-month, faith-based campaign against the policy announced Feb. 29. Groups including Baptist Joint…
What dying patients are teaching me about the end of life
We lay down trophies and accolades After visiting a well-known aging pastor and his wife, I thought about the couple’s influence among their peers, church, community and denomination. Most of this had vanished because of their declining health and years…
100 chaplains urge Texas schools not to take the bait on school ‘chaplains’
Texas school districts should reject a new state law that permits hiring government-approved chaplains to counsel public school children, more than 100 chaplains say in an Aug. 22 letter to school board members statewide. The chaplains warn the policy created…
Texas is first step in a national plan to install ‘chaplains’ in public schools instead of professional counselors
A Texas proposal to allow unlicensed “chaplains” to take the place of public school counselors undermines religious liberty, according to Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty and others. The Texas Legislature is considering House Bill 3614 and Senate Bill 763,…
Why did Walter Reed administrators cancel Catholic pastoral care contract during Holy Week?
Officials with Walter Reed National Military Medical Center have not explained their controversial decision to end a longstanding contract for Catholic pastoral care services at the beginning of Holy Week. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese for Military Services strongly criticized the…
Gallup documents the role and influence of chaplains
American adults who have been served by chaplains hail the ministers for providing compassionate and effective care during some of the most difficult moments of life, a new study shows. “Most people say the interaction they had with a chaplain…
Through 14 months of pandemic, hospital chaplains have carried others’ burdens
The emotional trauma suffered by health care workers in the battle against COVID-19 also is being felt by the chaplains who ministered to the sick and dying during the pandemic. “I think chaplains may have a little PTSD when this…
Q&A with Gerry Hutchinson on chaplaincy, COVID and banjoes
Military chaplains typically deploy to combat zones with things like crucifixes, Bibles or menorahs. Gerry Hutchinson, a retired Navy captain, always took a banjo. “I played it in multiple services with the Marines in Afghanistan,” he said. “If I got…