Chaplaincy is Stable pastoral care provided to a community or group whose circumstances call for ministry beyond the ordinary territorial pattern of parish life.[1]
Pastoral care for a defined community
A chaplaincy serves persons joined by an institution, condition, language, occupation, mobility, or special need: hospitals, prisons, universities, armed forces, migrants, seafarers, schools, and other communities are common examples. It brings the word of God, sacraments, spiritual counsel, and the Church's presence to circumstances in which ordinary parish access may be limited or insufficient.[2]
A chaplain is a priest to whom competent authority entrusts stable pastoral care, at least in part, of a particular community or group. Deacons, religious, and lay ecclesial ministers may form part of a chaplaincy team and exercise real ministries according to law, but universal law's office of chaplain is not created merely by an employer's use of the title.
Faculties and ecclesial communion
Appointment and removal belong to the competent ordinary under canons 564–572 and any special law. A chaplain has the faculties granted by universal or particular law and by the decree of appointment; sacramental faculties must not be presumed from a job description. The rights of pastors and the jurisdiction of local ordinaries remain respected.
Effective chaplaincy combines presence with clear Catholic identity. Respectful service to all persons does not require religious indifferentism, unauthorized intercommunion, or concealment of Catholic moral teaching. Ecumenical and interreligious cooperation is appropriate when the distinct faith and discipline of each community are honestly maintained.
References
- 1.Code of Canon Law, canons 460–572 — Diocesan structures, parishes, pastoral councils, rectors, and chaplains
- 2.Lumen gentium — Vatican II's dogmatic constitution on the mystery, constitution, and mission of the Church