Chaplains of Color: Histories and Practices

Abstract

From the gallows and fields of war to the street and bedside, chaplains of color have been present and instrumental in providing spiritual and emotional support in public and private settings across the United States. Their histories and experiences are not well documented and integrated into the field of spiritual care and chaplaincy, a field often understood as predominantly White, male, and Christian. This article introduces this special issue by offering historical context—particularly for Black chaplains—and naming the key themes that weave through the articles included. Naming the experiences of chaplains of color is a central step in responding to historically grounded racial inequities in the work of chaplaincy and spiritual care in the United States.

Keywords:

• African–American
• Black
• chaplaincy
• history
• race

Notes

1 This article draws heavily on the working paper (Antoine et al., 2021).

2 In Fall 2020, researchers from the Chaplaincy Innovation Lab at Brandeis University 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 four organizations had resources for chaplains of color: ACPE (formerly Association for Clinical Pastoral Education), National Association of Black Chaplains, North American Hindu Chaplains Association and Unitarian Universalist Association. 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 interests in using resources (compiled by the Lab or found elsewhere) to better support chaplains of color.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Fetzer Institute.