The chaplains: key negotiators of the church school ethos

ABSTRACT

The article concerns school chaplains in Czech church schools. Drawing on interviews and non-participant field observations, I examine, through an applied thematic analysis, how the chaplains participate in the negotiation of the church school ethos with other important actors in everyday interactions. This study argues that Czech school chaplains can be regarded as key actors in the process of negotiating and maintaining this ethos. Among various actors – students, founding churches, headteachers and pedagogues – they maintain an exceptional position as Christian spiritual leaders with, at the same time, neutral standing, and who enjoy the privilege of a somewhat vaguely defined role. The chaplaincy here appears as a proto-profession without clear boundaries and built on both authenticity and the chaplains’ personal spirituality.

KEYWORDS:

• School chaplain
• czechia
• church schools
• school ethos

Acknowledgments

The text is an output of the research ‘Dynamics of the churches’ moral economies in the Czech Republic and Slovakia in the context of restitutions and separation of church and state’, financed by the Czech Science Foundation, project no. 19-08512S.

Disclosure statement

The author declares there is no conflict of interest.

Notes

1. The team members involved in the church school study who occasionally interviewed chaplains were the author of the article, Barbora Spalová, Ivana Lukeš Rybanská, Adam Gajdoš, Marek Liška and Martin Nosál. The author of the article would like to thank all members for their work and valuable feedback on this text as well as the informants and the two anonymous reviewers of this text.

Additional information

Funding

The text is one of the outputs of the research Dynamics of the church´s moral economy in the Czech Republic and Slovakia in the context of the restitutions and the separation of church and state, financed by the Czech Science Foundation, project no. 19-08512S;Grantová Agentura České Republiky [19-08512S];

Notes on contributors

Andrea Beláňová

Dr. Andrea Beláňová earned a Ph.D. in religious studies at the Faculty of Arts, Masaryk University in Brno. Currently, she works as a lecturer at the Faculty of Education, Charles University, and as a post-doc at the Institute of Sociology of Czech Academy of Sciences. She focuses on the intersection of the religious and secular sphere and spent one year as a Fulbright visiting researcher at the University of Nevada in Reno.