An Identity Crisis Padre Gerrit Gerlach Waiouru

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 1, Issue 26, 29 November 1983, Page 10

An Identity Crisis Padre Gerrit Gerlach Waiouru

More than ever before in the history of our western institutions, Chaplaincy in all its forms is facing the most severe identity crisis it had yet had to face. Up until relatively recent times religion was the universally accepted norm for western society* and the presence of a clergyman was taken for granted as being essential for the well-being of the institution or society he was involved in. Chaplains are found today in hospitals, prisons, mental institutions, military establishments, universities and schools, factories and businesses, government departments and services such as police and fire service. However more and more traditional roles of the Chaplain are being taken over by highly trained specialists in their fields of. social work, psychology and psychiatry, professional and trade counselling, crisis counselling, alcohol and drug dependency, marriage guidarice and protection of individual rights, to name but a few. Accordingly there is greater and greater pressure on administrations and policy planners to justify the expense of a Chaplain in what is essentially. a secularized society. Of what practical purpose is a Chaplain except to dispense a general feeling of religious well-being? Many Chaplains are becoming increasingly uncertain of their professional status in a climate of growing indifference to religion and an attitude that the services of a minister are an unnecessary luxury only

for the? weak or emotionally unstable! In many ways this identity crisis will prove to be of great value to Chaplains and the people they seek to serve. Once the questions have been faced and the pain experienced, there may come the realisation that the stripping away of the many roles has been to allow the centrality of the Chaplains role at the representative of Jesus Christ once more to be put into sharp focus so that the involvement in the many areas of help and service comes from the mainspring of faith in Jesus Christ as a Living God, Creator and Savior, rather than this involvement being an attempt to justify the Chaplain's existence in what is often a hostile or indifferent environment. While caring and helping, the Chaplain can offer a lifestyle more than adequate to meet the demands and pressures of modern living, and through the reality of a relationship with Jesus Christ a power for living can be demonstrated that needs no apology or justification whatsoever!