“A must for anyone who is called to this realm of sacred service, to any administrator on a college campus overseeing student life, and to alumni of all faith traditions to help them understand what their alma mater can and should be providing to current students vis-a-vis campus religious life.... A valuable addition to SkyLight Paths' series of professional books for clergy/leaders of faith communities.”

—Rabbi Stephen B. Roberts, MBA, BCC, editor, Professional Spiritual and Pastoral Care: A Practical Clergy and Chaplain's Handbook

“Explores the profound questions shaping today's chaplaincy.... Relevant to anyone who cares about the ways that today's college students—of all religious and non-religious identities—seek to make meaning.”

—Dr. Eboo Patel, founder and president, Interfaith Youth Core; author, Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation

“While religion on college campuses is a story often overlooked, or misunderstood, this must-read collection ... reveals the powerful ways that chaplains are shaping the religious, spiritual and moral lives of present students—and future leaders.”

—Paul Raushenbush, senior religion editor, The Huffington Post

“Informing, inspiring, evocative, this book will deepen your understanding, stretch your soul and challenge your assumptions—a must-read not only for aspiring chaplains, but especially for those who hire, fire and depend on them.”

—Sharon Daloz Parks, author, Big Questions, Worthy Dreams: Mentoring Emerging Adults in Their Search for Meaning, Purpose, and Faith

“Illuminates campus life with insightful and sometimes humorous essays that I found personally moving. I highly recommend this book not only for religious professionals and those working on campuses, but to all people who care about sustaining and nurturing the life of the spirit in twenty-first-century America.”

—Ingrid Mattson, PhD, London and Windsor Community Chair in Islamic Studies, Huron University College

Foreword ix
Rev. Janet M. Cooper Nelson
Introduction xv
Rev. Dr. Lucy A. Forster-Smith

Part I
CHAPLAINCY IN A CHANGING WORLD
My Dreamsicle Job
Good Humor and Becoming a Chaplain 3
Sharon M. K. Kugler, Yale University

Chaplaincy in Displacement and Homecoming
After Katrina 16
Rev. Gail E. Bowman, Dillard University

A Muslim Chaplain on Finding His Way 35
Sohaib N. Sultan, Princeton University

In Coffin's Pulpit
Re-envisioning Protestant Religious Culture 45
Rev. Ian B. Oliver, Yale University

Part II
MULTIFAITH CHAPLAINS, MULTIFAITH CAMPUSES
Uncovering God
A Global Chaplaincy on a Secular Campus 63
Rev. Deanna L. Shorb, Grinnell College

"ÁSi, se puede!" (Yes, We Can!)
Student Ministry in a Multicultural Context 78
Fr. Daniel Reim, SJ, University of Michigan

"Not So Religious"
Jewish Chaplaincy in the Twenty-First Century 98
Rabbi Rena S. Blumenthal, Vassar College

Part III
A HEART FOR THE COMMUNITY
"God Is in This Place"
Mentoring, Ministering, and Making Meaning
at Stanford University 125
Rabbi Patricia Karlin-Neumann, Stanford University

Pilgrim Transformations
The Chaplain as Traveling Companion 146
Rev. Dr. Paul H. W. Rohde, Augustana College

Room to Breathe
Nurturing Community by Creating Space 157
Rev. Dr. Susan Henry-Crowe, Emory University

Blues Songs and Lamentations
Chaplains on the Crisis Team 170
Rev. Dr. Charles Lattimore Howard, University of Pennsylvania

Part IV
CARING AT THE CROSSROADS
Betwixt and Between
Interstitial Dialogue, Identity, and
Mending on a College Campus 189
Rev. Dr. Linda J. Morgan-Clement, College of Wooster

Passports
The Chaplain Moving across Boundaries 204
Rev. Dr. Richard E. Spalding, Williams College

Religious Hybrids
A New Interpretation 223
Rev. K. P. Hong, Macalester College

Part V
THE CHAPLAIN AND THE SECULAR
Stewards of the New Secular 247
Rev. Dr. Samuel H. Speers, Vassar College

The One and the Many
Old Language, New Engagement 271
Fr. Roc O'Connor, SJ, Creighton University

"What Has Athens to Do with Jerusalem?"
The Professor Chaplain 291
Rev. Dr. J. Diane Mowrey, Queens University of Charlotte

Chaplains Breaking the Silence
of Faith in the Academy
The Charge 312
Rev. Dr. Lucy A. Forster-Smith, Macalester College

Notes 331

 

 

Rabbi Rena S. Blumenthal is assistant director of the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life and Irving Rachlin Advisor to Jewish Students at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. Prior to becoming a rabbi in 2003, she worked as a psychologist for fifteen years in New York City and Jerusalem.

Rev. Gail E. Bowman, JD, is the director of the Campus Christian Center at Berea College in Berea, Kentucky. She moved to Berea recently after serving as chaplain at Dillard University in New Orleans for fourteen years. She has several published sermons and one book, Praying the Sacred in Secular Settings.

Rev. Janet M. Cooper Nelson is chaplain of the university at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where she also teaches at Alpert School of Medicine. She is engaged in several national initiatives focused on higher education, religious literacy, interfaith understanding and medical ethics, especially end-of-life care, and maintains ready access to poetry, scriptures and a quiet beach.

Rev. Dr. Lucy A. Forster-Smith serves as chaplain and associate dean for religious and spiritual life at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She is president of the Association of College and University Religious Affairs and past president of the Presbyterian College Chaplains Association. She is an avid walker, smitten with college students and loves long conversations with her spouse and amazing children.

Rev. Dr. Susan Henry-Crowe has served as dean of the chapel and religious life at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, since 1991. She is the secretary and treasurer of the Association for College and University Religious Affairs. Her work involves overseeing Emory’s vibrant Inter-Religious Council, twenty-eight multifaith campus religious organizations and the hallmark Journeys program. A United Methodist minister, she served on the Judicial Council for sixteen years. She has a long-standing commitment to social justice and interfaith as well as ecumenical relationships.

Rev. K. P. Hong has served as a chaplain for religious and spiritual life at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He has also held pastorates in Asian-American and multiethnic congregations in the United Methodist Church. Rooted also in Buddhist practice, he is especially interested in interreligious work in the increasingly relational context of world religions.

Rev. Dr. Charles Lattimore Howard is university chaplain at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and a former hospital and hospice chaplain. He is the editor of The Souls of Poor Folk and author of The Awe and the Awful. He deeply enjoys spending time with his wife and two daughters, swimming, and reading a good book with a plate of cookies and a glass of milk.

Rabbi Patricia Karlin-Neumann is senior associate dean for religious life at Stanford University in Stanford, California. Her work has appeared in the books I Am Jewish: Personal Reflections Inspired by the Last Words of Daniel Pearl; Encountering Disgrace: Reading and Teaching Coetzee’s Novel; and Reading Ruth: Contemporary Women Reclaim a Sacred Story; and in the Journal of College and Character. Patricia enjoys swimming, reading, knitting, hiking and sharing time with friends and family.

Sharon M. K. Kugler is head chaplain at Yale University in New Ha

Rabbi Rena S. Blumenthal is assistant director of the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life and Irving Rachlin Advisor to Jewish Students at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. Prior to becoming a rabbi in 2003, she worked as a psychologist for fifteen years in New York City and Jerusalem.

Rev. Gail E. Bowman, JD, is the director of the Campus Christian Center at Berea College in Berea, Kentucky. She moved to Berea recently after serving as chaplain at Dillard University in New Orleans for fourteen years. She has several published sermons and one book, Praying the Sacred in Secular Settings.

Rev. Janet M. Cooper Nelson is chaplain of the university at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where she also teaches at Alpert School of Medicine. She is engaged in several national initiatives focused on higher education, religious literacy, interfaith understanding and medical ethics, especially end-of-life care, and maintains ready access to poetry, scriptures and a quiet beach.

Rev. Dr. Lucy A. Forster-Smith serves as chaplain and associate dean for religious and spiritual life at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She is president of the Association of College and University Religious Affairs and past president of the Presbyterian College Chaplains Association. She is an avid walker, smitten with college students and loves long conversations with her spouse and amazing children.

Rev. Dr. Susan Henry-Crowe has served as dean of the chapel and religious life at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, since 1991. She is the secretary and treasurer of the Association for College and University Religious Affairs. Her work involves overseeing Emory’s vibrant Inter-Religious Council, twenty-eight multifaith campus religious organizations and the hallmark Journeys program. A United Methodist minister, she served on the Judicial Council for sixteen years. She has a long-standing commitment to social justice and interfaith as well as ecumenical relationships.

Rev. K. P. Hong has served as a chaplain for religious and spiritual life at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He has also held pastorates in Asian-American and multiethnic congregations in the United Methodist Church. Rooted also in Buddhist practice, he is especially interested in interreligious work in the increasingly relational context of world religions.

Rev. Dr. Charles Lattimore Howard is university chaplain at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and a former hospital and hospice chaplain. He is the editor of The Souls of Poor Folk and author of The Awe and the Awful. He deeply enjoys spending time with his wife and two daughters, swimming, and reading a good book with a plate of cookies and a glass of milk.

Rabbi Patricia Karlin-Neumann is senior associate dean for religious life at Stanford University in Stanford, California. Her work has appeared in the books I Am Jewish: Personal Reflections Inspired by the Last Words of Daniel Pearl; Encountering Disgrace: Reading and Teaching Coetzee’s Novel; and Reading Ruth: Contemporary Women Reclaim a Sacred Story; and in the Journal of College and Character. Patricia enjoys swimming, reading, knitting, hiking and sharing time with friends and family.

Sharon M. K. Kugler is head chaplain at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, and a past president of the National Association of College and University Chaplains and of the Association of College and University Religious Affairs. Her happiest moments in this work are when she is nurturing community in surprising ways, like cooking and serving enormous vats of chili at large gatherings of students: “It’s magic!”

Rev. Dr. Linda J. Morgan-Clement is chaplain and director of interfaith campus ministry at the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio. Her work has appeared in We Ask Your Blessing: 100 Prayers for Campus Occasions (ed. Donald Shockley). She finds it deeply satisfying as a campus chaplain to assist people—be it students, her own family and friends, or faculty and staff—to discover genuine connections with others. She welcomes opportunities to deepen ordinary human activities into encounters with self, others and the holy in ways that encourage courageous and connective living.

Rev. Dr. J. Diane Mowrey serves as chaplain and is the Mrs. John R. Irwin Professor of Bible at Queens University of Charlotte in Charlotte, North Carolina. She is a past president of the Presbyterian College Chaplains Association, former associate pastor of Church of the Pilgrims in Washington, D.C., and former assistant professor of English at Hamilton College. She loves to travel, especially with students and colleagues on mission or peace and reconciliation trips, and enjoys spending time with friends or family over coffee or at the beach.

Fr. Roc O’Connor, SJ, recently completed his service as rector of the Jesuit Community at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. He is associate pastor at St. John’s Parish and an instructor in the theology department at Creighton University. While on sabbatical, he plans to complete a manuscript on liturgical participation. He is deeply grateful to have served with Rev. Lucy Forster-Smith and Rabbi Bernie Raskas at Macalester College for six years.

Rev. Ian B. Oliver is Pastor of the University Church and senior associate chaplain for Protestant life at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. He was formerly university chaplain at Bucknell University. He notes that at each of the institutions he’s served, he’s been in a pastoral and preaching role in the campus chapel.

Fr. Daniel Reim, SJ, is campus minister for Hispanic/Latino ministry and social justice at St. Mary Student Parish and Catholic Newman Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In his work as campus minister, he has the opportunity to interact with students on fire for God and making a difference in the world. He says, “We are supported by an amazing parish community invested in the faith formation of our students. And we have a lot of fun. Praise God!”

Rev. Dr. Paul H. W. Rohde is campus pastor at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Before campus ministry, he served as pastor of three Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) congregations for twenty years. He is the author of And Grace Will Lead Me Home: A Guide for Pilgrim Journals. He and his family have made more than twenty pilgrimages to Holden Village, a retreat center in the Cascade Mountains, where they enjoy hiking, homemade bread, stimulating conversations and contemplative worship.

Rev. Deanna L. Shorb serves as chaplain and dean of religious life at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa. She is a past president of the National Association of College and University Chaplains. Off-campus, she enjoys gardening and carpentry projects (most recently a multiphasic tree house) and spending time at home and at play with her partner and children.

Rev. Dr. Richard E. Spalding is chaplain to the college at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. He oversees religious and spiritual life at Williams, especially for students affiliated with underrepresented traditions and students who are exploring spirituality generally. He is an ordained pastor in the Presbyterian Church (USA). One of his great joys at Williams is leading a Winter Study course in Nicaragua called Explorations in Solidarity. If you stop at his office on campus, you’ll probably also meet his dog, Monty.

Rev. Dr. Samuel H. Speers is director of the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life and assistant dean for campus life and diversity at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. He is project coordinator of “Secularity and the Liberal Arts,” a Teagle Foundation multi-institutional working group. He is author of “The Secular Thesis Revisited” in the Journal of College and Character. He is easily confused (as his loved ones remind him) and finds the experiences of poetry, being outside and being with family harder and harder to tell apart.

Sohaib N. Sultan is director of the Muslim Life Program at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey. He was formerly Muslim chaplain at Trinity College and Wesleyan University in Connecticut. His work has appeared in The Koran for Dummies and in The Qur’an and Sayings of Prophet Muhammad: Selections Annotated and Explained (SkyLight Paths). He enjoys watching his favorite soccer teams, hanging out and sharing laughs with students, and spending quality time with his wife—his one true love.

tion of College and University Religious Affairs. Her happiest moments in this work are when she is nurturing community in surprising ways, like cooking and serving enormous vats of chili at large gatherings of students: “It’s magic!”

Rev. Dr. Linda J. Morgan-Clement is chaplain and director of interfaith campus ministry at the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio. Her work has appeared in We Ask Your Blessing: 100 Prayers for Campus Occasions (ed. Donald Shockley). She finds it deeply satisfying as a campus chaplain to assist people—be it students, her own family and friends, or faculty and staff—to discover genuine connections with others. She welcomes opportunities to deepen ordinary human activities into encounters with self, others and the holy in ways that encourage courageous and connective living.

Rev. Dr. J. Diane Mowrey serves as chaplain and is the Mrs. John R. Irwin Professor of Bible at Queens University of Charlotte in Charlotte, North Carolina. She is a past president of the Presbyterian College Chaplains Association, former associate pastor of Church of the Pilgrims in Washington, D.C., and former assistant professor of English at Hamilton College. She loves to travel, especially with students and colleagues on mission or peace and reconciliation trips, and enjoys spending time with friends or family over coffee or at the beach.

Fr. Roc O’Connor, SJ, recently completed his service as rector of the Jesuit Community at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. He is associate pastor at St. John’s Parish and an instructor in the theology department at Creighton University. While on sabbatical, he plans to complete a manuscript on liturgical participation. He is deeply grateful to have served with Rev. Lucy Forster-Smith and Rabbi Bernie Raskas at Macalester College for six years.

Rev. Ian B. Oliver is Pastor of the University Church and senior associate chaplain for Protestant life at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. He was formerly university chaplain at Bucknell University. He notes that at each of the institutions he’s served, he’s been in a pastoral and preaching role in the campus chapel.

Fr. Daniel Reim, SJ, is campus minister for Hispanic/Latino ministry and social justice at St. Mary Student Parish and Catholic Newman Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. In his work as campus minister, he has the opportunity to interact with students on fire for God and making a difference in the world. He says, “We are supported by an amazing parish community invested in the faith formation of our students. And we have a lot of fun. Praise God!”

Rev. Dr. Paul H. W. Rohde is campus pastor at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Before campus ministry, he served as pastor of three Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) congregations for twenty years. He is the author of And Grace Will Lead Me Home: A Guide for Pilgrim Journals. He and his family have made more than twenty pilgrimages to Holden Village, a retreat center in the Cascade Mountains, where they enjoy hiking, homemade bread, stimulating conversations and contemplative worship.

Rev. Deanna L. Shorb serves as chaplain and dean of religious life at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa. She is a past president of the National Association of College and University Chaplains. Off-campus, she enjoys gardening and carpentry projects (most recently a multiphasic tree house) and spending time at home and at play with her partner and children.

Rev. Dr. Richard E. Spalding is chaplain to the college at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. He oversees religious and spiritual life at Williams, especially for students affiliated with underrepresented traditions and students who are exploring spirituality generally. He is an ordained pastor in the Presbyterian Church (USA). One of his great joys at Williams is leading a Winter Study course in Nicaragua called Explorations in Solidarity. If you stop at his office on campus, you’ll probably also meet his dog, Monty.

Rev. Dr. Samuel H. Speers is director of the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life and assistant dean for campus life and diversity at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. He is project coordinator of “Secularity and the Liberal Arts,” a Teagle Foundation multi-institutional working group. He is author of “The Secular Thesis Revisited” in the Journal of College and Character. He is easily confused (as his loved ones remind him) and finds the experiences of poetry, being outside and being with family harder and harder to tell apart.

Sohaib N. Sultan is director of the Muslim Life Program at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey. He was formerly Muslim chaplain at Trinity College and Wesleyan University in Connecticut. His work has appeared in The Koran for Dummies and in The Qur’an and Sayings of Prophet Muhammad: Selections Annotated and Explained (SkyLight Paths). He enjoys watching his favorite soccer teams, hanging out and sharing laughs with students, and spending quality time with his wife—his one true love.