Chaplaincy: A Christian Cultural failure, not a Secular Government attack.

Lunchtime Painting Circle Spontaneous Gallery connecting students emotionally and socially – author’s SU Chaplaincy work at Howrah Primary School 2021

Atheist journalist Jane Caro and Anglican apologist John Dickson, both Sydney-based commentators, have each written about the virtues and vices of school chaplaincy, as there are moves in this new Australian government to change the terms of Chaplaincy funding.

Among the many voices on this issue – either christians and atheists, supporters and deniers, providers and consumers, few take into account the reality that there are many schools under the current system who want a chaplain that can’t fill the position.

This is because, on the whole, the church in Australia is a middle class culture and the pay rate and conditions for Chaplains is quite low ($23p/h same as in the kitchen at Maccas), and few christians are prepared to work under those conditions. Adjacent to this factor is that the church in Australia is shaped by predominantly male-centric values, and the care and support of children and young people, and vulnerable families (which comprises most of the work in government school chaplaincy) does not rate highly in church culture.

For christians to protest that children and families in our communities are somehow being denied something in the changes to chaplaincy is extremely disingenuous when, given the large opportunities to have christians working in schools, we have not cared enough to step up and fill these roles.

When the Victorian education department changed the terms of religious education about a decade ago, there was a huge outcry from churches that christianity was being excluded from schools. The reality was in fact that for decades, when there was a generous provision in the education act for students to have 30 minutes of religious education per week, christians could not be found to facilitate this. There were chronic shortages of volunteers and most schools did not have a full program at all levels, not because of resistance in the school but because of the apathy of churches to be present in their local government primary school.

The same is true for the excellent mentoring program Kids Hope, for which there are more schools requesting church partnerships than there are churches and christians willing to partner.

That christians would demand the right to work in schools, but then not take up the responsibility when it is open to them exposes where the failures of mission and care and provision really lie – and it is not with governments – either Federal or State, Labour or Liberal.

The claim that christians are shut out of schools by secular government is a myth – mostly promoted by christians for some kind of political leverage I do not care for.