By Rev. Barbara Talcott, School Chaplain

I am a School Chaplain. “That’s a church person, right?” Well, no, not really—but yes, kind of. “Oh, so you’re a school person.” Yes, but also not really. It’s kind of complicated. To be honest, we chaplains don’t fit very well into any of the categories most people are comfortable with.

I knew from the start of my process toward ordination that I was called to be a school chaplain, but I didn’t realize until after I was ordained how unusual that made me. Chaplaincy is definitely a job that other ordained ministers—and even most churchgoers—have trouble understanding and appreciating, because although many of us have been ordained by the Church, we don’t work in churches. In fact, we spend much of our ministry serving people who are non-Christian, and even non-religious. We have very different rhythms to our weeks and years, and because of our school responsibilities we (more…)