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CORPORATE_CHAPLAINS
A chaplain is “a minister in a specialized setting such as a priest, pastor, rabbi, imam or lay” who represents a religious and/or spiritual perspective in an institution or organization such as a hospital, prison, military unit, police department, university, or private chapel and who ministers to people in need.

HISTORY
Chaplaincy is described as “institutional ministry—ministry on behalf of the church, but outside a traditional church setting—in places like hospitals, prisons, corporations and the military services.” )

The tittle “chaplain” from the Latin word “Cappelani” originated in the 4th Century from the story of St. Martin of Tours, who met with an unclothed man who asked him for his clothes. If St. Martin of Tours had agreed to give the man his clothes, he would not have solved the problem but only transferred it to himself, so he tore his cloth into half instead and each of them took a piece. After his death, his cloak, in Latin “Capella”, was cherished as sacred because of his acts of compassion. This led to formation of chapels (named after the capella) The custodian of the "capella" was later known as the "chapelain" which was translated into the English language as "chaplain".

Charlemagne was the first King to keep religious relics and the chaplains in his palace. At this time, the educated class composed of mainly priests and other religious elites. For this reason, Charlemagne used the priests as guardians of the relics, librarians, history writers and the emperor’s personal writers in addition to their religious duties. Following this practice, Kings throughout Europe followed in his footsteps and started adopting chaplains as religious advisors. The practice spread even further and they were also appointed to other high offices in the church, appointment in the military and other institutions such as hospitals, prisons, schools, colleges, universities, embassies, parliaments, courts and corporations.

Though chaplains only used to refer to representatives of the Catholic faith, during the Protestant Reformation this practice was adopted by the Protestants as well. Oliver Cromwell an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy, became “Lord Protector” of England, Scotland and Ireland from 1653-1658, he appointed John Owen as his chaplain, a writer of practical theology and the dean of Oxford. In recent years, this term is now applied to men and women of other religions and philosophical traditions. Furthermore, lay people have been undergoing religious training to enable them act as chaplains instead of the traditional members of the clergy.

Historically, hospitals, police departments, and fire departments have followed in the military’s footsteps and employed chaplains to help workers cope with the daily stress that is common to their organizations. Today, however, corporate chaplaincy programs are extending their presence into those organizations traditionally served by employee assistance programs(EAPs). The recent increase in the use of chaplains by corporations in America has been mainly due to similarities that have been found between the problems that employees discussed with corporate chaplains and the issues traditionally addressed by employee assistance providers hence the need for companies to embrace faith at work and add the clergy on their payroll. Corporate chaplains have been mainly found to perform for distinct functions according to an activity report by Kim Nimon,  Nanette Philibert and Jeff Allen which are;


 * Administration - The activity reports indicated that workplace chaplains helped with client management meetings, conducted orientation for new employees, reviewed activity reports, and helped with program startup.


 * Crisis intervention -The reports showed that workplace chaplains "responded to family and personal emergencies, medical emergencies, suicide threats, death notifications, accidents, and chemical abuse. Workplace chaplains also made referrals to other agencies in conjunction with crisis intervention activities.”
 * Crisis intervention -The reports showed that workplace chaplains "responded to family and personal emergencies, medical emergencies, suicide threats, death notifications, accidents, and chemical abuse. Workplace chaplains also made referrals to other agencies in conjunction with crisis intervention activities.”


 * Clerical Activities - The reports also showed that workplace chaplains “visited employees and the families of employee in hospitals, homes, jails, and funeral homes.” They were also involved in writing “letters of concern, sympathy, and appreciation.” They conducted funerals, presided over weddings, held chapel services, provided invocations and distributed religious materials such as bibles.


 * Counselling Sessions – Lastly, the report showed that workplace chaplains “held formal and informal confidential counseling sessions.” Issues discussed in counseling sessions include “anger, anxiety, children/parenting, death/grief, depression, discouragement/encouragement, divorce, education, ethics/morality, faith issues, finances, health/illness, immigration, job-related, marriage and family, parent care, personal, pre-martial, relationship, stress, and substance/alcohol abuse.”.

Ron Cordell, the VP of human resources at G.E. says: “We realized people are coming to work with the rest of their lives on their shoulders. Whether it’s a death, illness, child with drug addiction or another problem, they’re endless in a group our size.”

Now used by more than 500 companies in the US, UK and Canada the following are some of the corporations in the United States that employ Corporate Chaplains to help enhance their EAP programs:

G.E. Oil & Gas, Macdonald, Herr’s , McLane, Biltmore, GFS , Pilgrim’ ], Landteam Inc , Hillcorp Energy company , Coca Cola Bottling Co, Tyson Foods, J-W Energy , Chesapeake Energy.

Consulting Companies
The following is a small list of corporate chaplaincy consulting companies in the USA and internationally.

Corporate Chaplain

Marketplace Chaplains USA

Chaplains Work.

Corporate Chaplains of America

Capital Chaplains

Corporate Chaplains of Canada

Chaplains Caring for Companies

International Fellowship Chaplains

Corporate Chaplancy Consulting