The role of the school chaplain is changing to meet the needs of the children of a new millennium, where the old certainties are not so certain any more. John Downes reports.

When most of us think of the traditional school chaplain, we see a member of the clergy or of a religious order, acting as religious advisor to the overall school community. Yet being a school chaplain in 2004 is not what it was in the past.

According to the School Chaplains' Association (SCA), which represents chaplains in this State, an increasing number of chaplains are drawn from the lay community. Often highly-educated male - and female - graduates, with a background in theological or pastoral studies, they no longer conform to past stereotypes, the association says.

Those chaplains who are members of the clergy or a religious order, explains Brother Padraig McDonald, school chaplain at Salesian College, Celbridge, Co Kildare, will also often have specific training in pastoral care. In Brother McDonald's case, this took the form of a postgraduate degree.

Recently elected to the executive of the SCA, Brother McDonald says that he does not like being called by his title all the time, and is known simply as "Bro P" by the pupils at his school. This relaxed approach to formalities is perhaps understandable given the range of problems young adults face today. There is little denying that the teenage years can be a difficult time for some. In order to encourage students to confide their problems, it is necessary for a chaplain to be seen as both open and approachable.

"I've been very fortunate not to have a teaching post in the school, because I'm not being put into a disciplinary role," says McDonald. "And that's one aspect of chaplaincy that we try to avoid at all stages, is to keep away from discipline issues. . . we try and be as friendly as possible."

According to Brother McDonald, the problems he deals with as chaplain include helping children who have suffered the death of a close friend, a parent or a grandparent; addressing what he calls "bereavement through separation", caused by a family break-up or divorce; emotional and behavioural difficulties; drug and alcohol problems, self-harm, and domestic problems.

But how does the school chaplain's role differ from that of a school counsellor?

"My difference is that I come from this as a faith perspective," he says. "The chaplain holds a dual mandate. The chaplain holds a mandate that is both educational and ecclesial. I see my education mandate coming from the Education Act of 1998, which obliges schools to promote emotional, moral, and spiritual development of the pupil.

"I think some of the jobs we do are not overtly religious. But I seek to make real whatever that is within the school. Whether it's on the not overtly religious (or) the religious (side), I need the two to balance my role. . . it's a very strong distinction between the two.

"The ecclesial mandate, then, comes from the gospels, as I would see it, and that would be where Jesus says I have come so that you may have life and have life to the full. And we promote that in whatever way we can."

Such an approach is not without its problems, however. There is little denying that these are difficult times for members of religious orders. The continuing fall-off in vocations and declining church attendances, when coupled with child abuse revelations that have rocked the Catholic Church in recent years, would seem to indicate they face an uphill struggle in trying to convince often sceptical young adults to confide in them.

In an increasingly agnostic society, where the faith you are teaching is frequently no longer supported in the home, surely it is difficult to encourage children to open their hearts to you with their problems?

"That's a huge difficulty, and I think the best way I could answer that for you is that, in some respect, if the student feels that he is being listened to, that his dignity is being upheld, and that he is being cared for and respected, I think then they in some way see, well there is somebody there who is different.

"You try and be an example to them of something different," he says. "Some of these feel, in today's society, that if you're going around happy, with a permanent smile, that you're able to chat to everybody, that you must be on drugs of some description," he says.

"But when you say 'no, that's me, that's my job', then I think that takes them aback a little. And they say, well, there is somebody there who can be happy, who can listen to them."

This begs the question of whether, as a member of a religious order, a chaplain can be of help to someone who doesn't share his or her beliefs. Indeed, in Salesian College alone, there are several different religions, including Catholic, Church of Ireland and Buddhist.

According to McDonald, the key is to try to create an atmosphere in the school where all the kids can talk to the school chaplain, no matter what religion they are. A chaplain's own religious beliefs should not be a barrier to this, but rather one element of the whole.

"We need to allow kids to experience what they are going through and not be there shovelling stuff down their throats," he says. "And if they don't believe what I'm doing, or they don't believe in my faith, that's fine. But at least allow me to help them. Allow me to show that care, and to respect their dignity as human beings.

"It's a very individualistic society we're living in," McDonald admits. "My help is not overtly religious, and I would like to point that out. My help is about being available to those kids, being a presence to those kids, to help them in whatever needs they have.

"I think that, down the road, the role of chaplain will be performed more by lay people in the future. And that in itself is not a bad thing, because it's important that pupils see that a chaplain is not just an ordained priest or a religious brother or sister, but that there are lay people involved in this work, too. It's not a prerequisite that I should have the three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. That a married person can do equally as good a job as I can."

When a pupil comes to him with a problem, the normal procedure would be for Brother McDonald to listen to what he has to say, and then call the student's parents in if he has any serious concerns. But he would try to solve most issues within the school, he says, something which he believes is important for kids to know.

"It can be very difficult to get through to a kid," he says. "The first thing we would open by saying is that, if you are going to harm yourself or anybody else, then I can't cloak that in a veil of secrecy. I don't promise secrecy, I have to be very strict about that. It's a safe place, but it is not a confessional.

"It's an essential thing for the parents as well," he says. "That they know that there is somebody outside of the home, or outside of their situation, (who) is looking after the kid. And that he's not being left to solve things on their own."

But perhaps the ultimate measure of the chaplain's work lies in the value-system of students leaving their care. Indeed, McDonald, himself a former school principal, believes the chaplain is second in importance only to the principal in this regard.

"You have to always be a good listener," he says. "You're a big ear to pick up the bits and pieces of what's going on around you, and maybe you're the only ear that young person has at that time. Maybe you're the only adult in his life who can help him. . . it's a big responsibility. What I would like to have, in some respects, is for the kids going out of the school to have some sense of community, some sense of belonging, some sense of respect for who they are, rather than for what they do. And I try to do that through the activities I do, rather than ramming stuff down their throats in a classroom.

"I would hope that, in some way, they would see community as more than just receiving, but rather see that you have to give back something togain life."