ABSTRACT
The 1st edition of this book began with the above quotation. It is reasonable to ask, some years on, whether chaplaincy was in crisis, and whether we have indeed learned anything from that experience. There is certainly no evidence that chaplains have grown numerically as a professional group and plenty of indication that posts have been cut, frozen or downgraded. It has surprised many chaplains that the report on failings at the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust made no reference to chaplaincy even though a major concern of the Report2 was a lack of compassion in care. Perhaps what characterizes the crisis for chaplaincy now is not the heated debate which surrounded the public attempt to disband the chaplains in one trust (see Chapter 4) but a quieter and cooler crisis of gradual depletion and notable absence from key reports and plans. This is a harder kind of crisis to engage with, and may leave chaplains struggling at the local level with limited public support. The transition from a public debate about chaplaincy to a more hidden and local determination of resources could undermine attempts by chaplains to marshal the capacity and commitment to underpin a sense of professional identity. Both chaplains and academic researchers have noted the need to clarify what chaplains do3 in order to communicate the contribution of their spiritual care.4 This has the potential to improve the way spiritual care is provided and also help other staff in the NHS value and understand the chaplain’s role.
