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Archive for October, 2009

A chaplain is typically a priest, pastor, ordained deacon, rabbi, imam, other member of the clergy, or another representative of a faith or belief, serving a group of people who are not organized as a mission or church, or who are unable to attend religious services for various reasons, such as health, confinement, or military or civil duties. Lay chaplains are also found in other settings such as universities. For example, a chaplain is often attached to a military unit (where he or she is sometimes referred to as padre), a private chapel, a ship, a prison, a hospital, a high school, college or especially boarding school, a parliamentary assembly and so on. Though originally the word, chaplain, had Christian roots, it is now applied to men or women of other religions—and sometimes, to individuals claiming no religion, as in the case of the humanist chaplains serving with military forces in the Netherlands—filling the same role. In recent years many non-ordained individuals have received professional training in chaplaincy and are now appointed as chaplains in schools, hospitals, universities, prisons and elsewhere to work alongside or instead of ordained chaplains.

more information about priests chaplains

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaplain