What exactly is campus ministry or chaplaincy?
The long answer: In the past, chaplaincy has been a ministry provided by people with a religious or spiritual background who showed an aptitude for the work, usually overseen by a governing body of the school, or respected community members.
Increasingly, chaplaincy has become a ministry requiring advanced academic credentials, often including ordination in a recognized church tradition. As the current Chaplain at Medicine Hat College, I am a professing Christian and ordained Anglican priest with a Bachelors in Theology, and a Masters in Pastoral Theology. Over the years, educational professionals and institutions have embraced the idea of treating with the student as a whole person—intellectually, physically, emotionally, and spiritually—for maximum success in the individual’s life.
Chaplaincy is an important part of this holistic approach, as chaplains are often able to overlap areas usually covered by other members of staff and faculty, such as counselling and wellness, for example, in addition to specifically addressing spiritual care.
As the Chaplain at MHC, I work hard to offer openness, understanding, and welcome to any and all members of the campus community, regardless of their faith (or lack thereof). My overarching goal and my entire focus to date in this vocation is—as much as I am able—to help others seek inner peace through connection to their individual spirituality. For some, that means guiding them into a time of meditative prayer. For others, it means connecting them to a religious community in the area which best reflects their expressed understanding of the Divine and religious preference. For others, a spiritual connection takes the form of a meaningful conversation in which I am able to simply listen, inviting reflection with thoughtful questions, or offering insights as they occur.
The bottom line, friends, is as we see expressed in the Gospel of John, that we should love each other as God has loved us. It is my greatest hope that the love of God as expressed in chaplaincy at MHC would reflect the myriad facets of God’s love as we have come to know them in our human relationships; a non-judgmental, respectful, hospitable, kind and generous presence in whom something of God’s infinite mercy, grace, and peace may be found and shared. May peace be with you and those you love, now and always. Amen.