18 May 2018
What price for our chaplain?
Posted in Chaplaincy / School life / SU QLD
How do we put a figure on what our Chaplain brings to our school community? To us, he is the unbiased, kind and always-caring figure who lands in our school each week, ready to scope out where he is needed and jump in to whatever is required.
He can be the one who takes the out-of-school-hours phone call – or one in the middle of an already hectic day in another school – to be thrown headlong into an emergent situation that no one saw coming and everyone needs a hand to deal with.
He is the fun one; the one who has the great ideas for activities we can run. He can be the listening ear for all, from the child ‘who has told no one else’, the teacher who is trying hard to be everything to everyone, or the principal who needs to ‘unload’. He never judges, he guides, and above all he seems to understand and identify what can be done to help.
We don’t see our chaplain enough. Monetary constraints dictate otherwise. Our school is not a big one, but our chappy helps us keep a big heart.
Thinking back to a time before school chaplaincy, I know that our school community with him, is stronger, more resilient, more merciful, more tolerant, and far, far more supportive of each other. So how do we put a figure on what he brings?
We can’t.
Halli Cantrell
Principal – Gooburrum State School
To support school chaplaincy this Chappy Week, visit www.suqld.org.au/donate
