I serve a pediatric hospital in a former steel town in the Rust Belt. The population has been dwindling for decades and is well below 100,000. The area suffers from the same ailments as many Rust Belt cities – high unemployment, poverty, property dereliction, and addiction. Polish and Italian ethnicities represent the largest portion of the population. Catholic is residents’ most common religious upbringing; many attended parochial school. Now, as the parents of patients, most maintain faith in God but have no connection to a parish and don’t attend mass.
Non-denominational churches have sprung up in the area. These churches typically follow the Saddleback model of contemporary worship, a coffee bar, and small-group meetings during the week.
I have frequent contact with those who are currently struggling with addiction or have in the past. I see many who were prescribed the infamous, supposedly harmless, painkillers for an injury and then abruptly cut off from their supply when the world woke up to the opioid epidemic. They are now finding relief from what they can procure on their own or are on recovery medications managed by one of the many rehab facilities in the area. I also see those who have worked the family trauma passed on to them by using whatever substances they could purchase.
The people I speak with often find themselves uncomfortable attending church. They express fear of being judged. The Church has still not found ways to understand addiction outside of it being a moral failure. Some have been wounded by a church community and aren’t willing to trust again. Many people in the community I serve, lack transportation which can also keep them from attending a church.
But regardless of all the reasons why people in this community may be unaffiliated with a church, the overwhelming majority either believe in the Christian God or see themselves as having a spiritual component to their personhood. And if anything, they are hungry for spiritual connection. We may interpret the plummeting church attendance in this community and this country as evidence of growing secularization in our society, but my experience with individuals daily says otherwise. People are still seeking encounters with the Divine, but that need is not being fulfilled by the current models of the church.
Chaplains have the opportunity and training to provide one-on-one, welcoming spiritual care to people wherever they may find themselves in their spiritual journey. This makes us exceptionally suited to hold space for people who are looking for spiritual connection. We have the training to see situations from the ‘meaning of life’ perspective. We are the keepers of collected esoteric wisdom from multiple traditions that most people only seek when their norm is disrupted. Chaplains provide needed spiritual support to people who are no longer receiving it through their membership in a faith community. We are bridging the gap between the decline of the church and whatever arises next.