Richard Prideaux is well qualified to speak about the relationship between a chaplain and a Head having spent time serving in each of these roles. Richard was an RE teacher and lay chaplain as well as the Head of St Paul’s Warragal in Victoria (1993–2006.)
This is another article out of the archive. Richard unique insights into the critical relationship between Head and Chaplain make it a very provocative and worthwhile read.
The importance of Chaplaincy in schools – the view both ways
1. From the point of view of the Principal/Head
a) The religious life and essence of the School sets the whole school tone and ethos – and this whole school tone/ethos/drive/goals/strategic purpose must be driven by the Head. Eg: what matters first in the School? academic results, sporting premierships, winning competitions, quality of teaching/character of students?
b) The Chaplain in conjunction with the Head sets the tone/ethos/direction/focus of the religious life of the School. Some Principals/Heads want to be the Chaplain – they shouldn’t! Some chaplains want to be the Head – they shouldn’t!
c) Thus it is important that there is a mutual synchronicity between Head and Chaplain – over first priorities, the center of the School’s mission; the way the mission is expressed; churchmanship issues; the centrality of the Gospel; how are other religions treated? Worship styles, Chapel music styles, what happens in the chapel? These debates should be had in the Head’s office – not in full view of the students.
d) The Chaplain should be (one of) the Head’s first three confidantes – alongside the Deputy Principal and the Business Manager. The Head’s relationship with the Chairman of Council is different again. The Chaplain does not have to be on the Executive (but it helps!) but should have ready and constant access to the Head. There are things the Head will share with the Chaplain that he/she will share with no one else.
e) The Chaplain should be prepared to be counselor and confessor to the Head but needs to cut the Head some slack and use the wisdom of Solomon in this ministry. The last thing the Head needs is spiritual blackmail.
2. From the point of view of the Chaplain
a) The Head needs to provide the Chaplain with appropriate authority, office, preferably a chapel, a reasonable budget and room to move — e.g. the reporting structure should be clear and senior – preferably to the Head or Head of School, no lower. If the Chaplain is not on the formal executive, they should be ex officio at all Executive major events.
b) The Chaplain needs to distinguish very carefully between the roles of Head of Religious Studies and Chaplain and ensure that the Head and other staff understand the difference. If one person fills both roles the wisdom of Solomon is again required.
c) The Chaplain needs time to be the Chaplain – he/she should not have a teaching load greater than 0.5 and ideally 0.2-3. At times it will look like the Chaplain does not have enough to do; at all times and especially in times of crisis the chaplain needs to be free to counsel, visit – just be there for people.
d) The Chaplain needs to know their own strengths and weaknesses and find replacements for the gaps – the key areas are teaching Junior/middle/senior), administration, worship leadership, music leadership, counseling, preaching.
e) Community/social service – has the potential to be a real trap for the chaplain, the danger being she/he reverts to a paid fund-raiser for good causes. The school should define its causes and the school community should support them ideally through the House or Level system to make maximum impact. Left to the chaplain it becomes a full-time job and knocks out other more important roles.
f) The Chaplain needs to clarify with the Head and senior administration where chaplaincy sits with the school discipline and pastoral care leaders e.g. Heads of House/Year level coordinators and with School counselors/psychologists/social workers. The Chaplain should be in the loop but not burdened or controlled by the loop.
g) The Chaplain needs to be very very careful in every aspect of conversation, communication, meeting arrangements, transport arrangements and interactions with both students and staff; The Chaplain’s responsibility is vocational, reporting to God and conscience and there is a need for chaplain to have a monitoring team or secondary referral “chaplain to the chaplain” – the weight cannot be carried alone.
h) The Chaplain should be building fun, confidence and esprit de corps in the school; not be a depressed dysfunctional wet blanket, or a cynical, burnt out and disengaged observer and commentator on the school community. Ideally the Chaplain will fill other roles as part of the team – on excursions, coaching teams, going on camps etc.
Of course the Chaplain is burdened with a spiritual imperative – an appropriate Gospel for her/his community – the being present as the proclaimer of the demanding Word of God is the Chaplain’s task … and yet, as David Tracey makes clear [*The Analogical Imagination] there is a broader task than simply the community of the faithful because the average Anglican school community gathered is a very broad church indeed and often not even a church in any meaningful sense.
So the Chaplain cannot afford the luxury of simply being a prophetic voice crying in a secular and powerfully materialistic wilderness of independent school privilege. The Chaplain has a symbiotic responsibility to be also the transmitter of the Head’s visionary values and inspiration for the School community. Where possible* the Chaplain should be enriching/expanding/deepening/challenging?/fostering and sharing the Principal ‘s vision for the School and staff. This needs to be done in such a way that the Chaplain is not simply seen as the Head’s mouthpiece or toady but in a co-relational way – as ideas of worth coming from different sources.
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