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Chaplains often show up on the worst days of people’s lives. They arrive in a hospital room after a distressing diagnosis. They accompany police to help inform someone of a loved one’s death.

One in four Americans have been visited by a chaplain

, usually at a hospital or hospice, though chaplains also work in prisons, on college campuses and with the military and police and fire departments.

But the role of spiritual caregiver is evolving as society becomes both less religious and more religiously diverse.

At the end of last year, Fairview Health Services laid off more than a dozen staff chaplains as part of a larger round of layoffs, raising questions about whether patients’ spiritual care will continue to be seen as part of a health system’s core services.

MPR News host Angela Davis talked with three chaplains about the work they do and how it’s changing. This is an encore conversation from January. 

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MPR News host Angela Davis talked with three chaplains about the work they do and how it’s changing.

Minnesota chaplains on their changing ‘spiritual caregiver’ roles

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