Introduction
Authored by Kevin Dowling with contributions by Will Yetvin and Connor Jansen
Rev. Dunbar-Perkins' Diverse Collection of Religious Items
Devotional and inspirational items from around the world on the desk of Rev. Denise Dunbar-Perkins, retired staff chaplain at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, represent the diverse array of patients she has responded to.
Ewe Chapel Religious Texts
The Holy Bible, the Holy Quran, and Spanish and Hmong translations of the Bible in the Ewe Memorial Chapel at Abbott Northwestern indicate the religious diversity of the patients that hospital chaplains must attend to.
Stillwater Correctional Facility
In June 2021, a majority of inmates at Minnesota Correctional Facility - Stillwater in Bayport identified as Christian, but its chaplain has also served practitioners of Islam, Native American religions, Judaism, and pagan and other religions.
Minnesota National Guard Chaplain Support Teams
Minnesota National Guard Chaplain Support Teams at the Emergency Management Training Center at Camp Ripley in August 2012. Chaplains provide stability and spiritual care for service members. While most are Christian, they must support troops and families from a range of religious traditions.
Minnesota National Guard Benediction
Chaplain (then-Major) Jerome Fehn offers a benediction to soldiers of the Moorhead-based 2nd Combined Arms Battalion, 136th Infantry before they visit and train with the Croatian Armed Forces.
In the United States, chaplains serve very important roles in many public institutions. Traditionally, the field of chaplaincy has largely been dominated by Protestant ministers and Catholic priests. Today, however, chaplains face more religiously diverse populations and must become conversant in such diversity in order to do their jobs effectively. Chaplains serve everywhere from hospitals, prisons, and colleges to the military, legislatures, and police and fire departments. This exhibit focuses primarily on hospital chaplaincy, with information about prison, military, and college chaplains as well. Hospital chaplains play a crucial role in modern patient care. Their position between medicine and religion creates both challenges and opportunities for their work. While the complex and complelling stories of the hospital chaplains interviewed for this exhibit are included in the pages on hospital chaplaincy, please visit the 'Chaplain Profiles' section for a deeper look into their rich personal histories and work.
Unless otherwise noted, all quotations and other information come from interviews conducted by Kevin Dowling during the fall of 2013. Wendy Cadge's ethnography of hospital chaplains, Paging God: Religion in the Halls of Medicine, served as an extremely important resource and is a fantastic book for further information about religion in medicine. Winnifred Fallers Sullivan's A Ministry of Presence: Chaplaincy, Spiritual Care, and the Law is a another key resource.
