Why Catholic Schools still Need Chaplains

by Admin · June 23, 2015

Even in a time when Catholic schools do not always have a majority Catholic student body, the role of the chaplain remains essential, as FR?HUGH?O�CONNOR?argues.

Fr Tony Daniels blesses a learner at St Benedict�s College in Johannesburg. He is now chaplain at Assumption Convent in Malvern. In his article, Fr Hugh O�Connor (inset) argues that even in Catholic schools with a multifaith student body, the chaplain can and must proclaim the Gospel through a ministry of presence.

The Catholic school chaplain plays an important role in the spiritual and emotional lives of students, teachers and parents.

Every school that carries the name Catholic and subscribes to a Catholic ethos should have a chaplain.

Chaplaincy should not depend on the percentage of Catholics in the school, for the work of chaplaincy is a part of the Church�s evangelising outreach and mission to all people.

Historically, in South Africa, there has been a close connection between the school and the parish community with the parish priest often serving as the school chaplain.

This relationship was, in many cases, further strengthened by the presence of religious sisters and brothers in the school who saw to the running of the school as well as to the maintenance of the Catholic ethos.

There were also, in many cases, a significant number of Catholic children in the school, and because of this many schools offered sacramental preparation as well.

Chaplaincy was often seen simply in terms of celebrating Mass, teaching a catechism class or two, and seeing that the sacraments were properly celebrated.

All of this took place in a Catholic environment where the roles of the chaplain, the religious, lay staff, parents and children were carefully structured and ordered.

Times have changed and the �good old days� are not going to return�but that does not mean that school chaplaincy is no longer important.

The responsibility for providing a priest-chaplain belongs to the bishop in whose diocese the school falls and with whose blessing the school operates as a Catholic school. Usually the task of chaplaincy falls to the parish priest in whose parish the school is situated.

There are some well resourced schools who can afford a dedicated chaplain, but in South Africa this is the exception rather than the norm.

Fewer Catholic parents are sending their children to Catholic schools�and there are many reasons for this�so the percentage of Catholic children in many schools has fallen dramatically.

The low number of Catholics and an interdenominational and multifaith environment in the schools raise questions about what a Catholic chaplain should do�or, indeed, whether or not there is a place for the chaplain. But these should not be excuses for not having chaplains appointed to schools.

There are very few religious brothers and sisters teaching in Church schools, and most of the Catholic schools in South Africa are ably led and run by lay people who are committed to upholding the Catholic ethos in changing times. They too need the support of a dedicated chaplain.

The Vatican�s Congregation for Catholic Education, in a 2014 document entitled �Educating Today and Tomorrow: A Renewing Passion�, recognised some of the challenges facing education today. It said that often �schools are the only places where young people encounter the bearers of Good News�, and in changing circumstances lay men and woman must become the face of this proclamation.

The school has become a real site of mission and this calls for creativity and dedication. Catholic schools exist as part of the mission of the Church�a mission not just focussed on Catholics only but also towards the education of all who choose to be part of the school community.

If schools are an important part of the mission of the Church, then there needs to be a renewed passion for chaplaincy�a chaplaincy that is broader than just the priest. A chaplaincy that proclaims the Gospel not just through good liturgy but also through a ministry of presence; a ministry that is carried out not by the priest alone but also by a committed team of people.

The call for a chaplain for every school requires creative ways of ministry in changing circumstance.

The challenge as well as the joys of ministering in a school environment among young people of different faiths and of no faith takes the chaplain to the margins�and it is to the margins that the Church is called according to Pope Francis.

Fr Hugh O�Connor is the vicar for education in the archdiocese of Cape Town.