In 1973, the Trinity Chapel in Front Square was reconsecrated, meaning it could be used by all Christian denominations. Before that the chapel—and the college—were strictly Protestant. The Trinity chaplaincy expanded accordingly. It’s now made up of four chaplains: two are Catholic (one Jesuit, the other Dominican), one is Church of Ireland, and another Methodist (who works part time), all working together out of House 27 next to the Graduates Memorial Building. Some would call it eclectic, the chaplains prefer the term ecumenical. “We’re all in the same building,” Father Peter Sexton told Trinity News. “We work together.”
“There’s a great sense of oneness,” Canon Paul Arbuthnot, the Church of Ireland Chaplain, told Trinity News. “It wouldn’t be unusual to find Father Sexton coming to a choral Evensong now and again. We draw strength from each other’s traditions.” The chaplains hope to model ecumenical, non-denominational culture for the students who come to visit: their latest project was a lunch to celebrate Ramadan.
A chaplain is a member of the clergy who serves a secular institution. At Trinity, they’re contracted in, with the express mission of providing support for students, as well as keeping up the services at the chapel. The actual day to day responsibilities of the chaplaincy are shared between the four men, regardless of their titles. Although Brian Hickey, the Methodist Chaplain, has a Masters in Chaplaincy from Dublin City University, he’s happy without being ordained. “I’m either in the common room or in [his office] having meetings with students. I’m more effective doing that than behind a lectern,” he told Trinity News.
“We’re not just here for people who go to church on Sundays, we’re here for everybody”
Supporting students is, all chaplains agreed, the main part of their role. “It’s about so much more than just what goes on in the chapel … anybody who wants to come and talk, they will have a non judgemental ear,” Canon Arbuthnot said. “The students in trouble in Ireland today would think of talking to a counsellor,” Fr Sexton said. “But chaplains usually are very experienced people.” All of the Chaplains have done extensive study; Canon Arbuthnot read history in college and graduated in 2003. Because of his time at Trinity, Canon Arbuthnot says: “I can understand the pressure the undergraduates are under.” He hopes that above all, students know they’re not alone. “We’re not just here for people who go to church on Sundays, we’re here for everybody.”
Hickey agreed: “The one-to-ones I do, they’re not all about providing spiritual care. Some people are just looking for a listening ear … it’s a privilege operating in that space.” And it’s not just about trying to fix the problem, Hickey said. What the Chaplains want to do is walk alongside students. “I love the idea that the Church sends people to where people are,” Hickey said. “I think it provides something really important to the university.”
Their “flock” never stays the same for long, as senior students graduate and new ones come in every four years. “At a parish”, Canon Arbuthnot told Trinity News, “you would have a congregation who had been coming for generations. The chaplaincy is a much more transient community.” This community is also, on average, a lot younger than the average congregant. As a result, “there’s a sense of vibrancy, there’s a sense of energy, about a university Chaplaincy.” All the same, they hope to build long-term relationships with the people who frequent the chaplaincy. Father Alan O’Sullivan, a Catholic Chaplain, recalls building solid social ties in his first years as a chaplain, one of whom recently asked him to officiate a wedding (the college Chapel allows weddings as long as one of the couple is a graduate or staff member).
“Seeking to maintain a universal reach, they host services throughout the year which aren’t specific to any one faith”
The unique space a college chaplain occupies is reflected in the services the chaplaincy holds. For example, seeking to maintain a universal reach, they host services throughout the year which aren’t specific to any one faith, such as the anatomy service, held in memory of all those who donated their bodies to science.
They also work to find ways to enrich students’ lives: Fr O’Sullivan is organising a trip to Rome this year; last year, students went to Poland. “Some of the most valuable work [we do] is off campus,” O’Sullivan told Trinity News. The goal isn’t just cultural enrichment, but social bonding: “you know people much better after a week.” There’s also an ecumenical trip to the Taizé monastic community in France which is organised every year.
The chaplaincy common room, up on the second floor of House 27, is kept open during the day, for students to come in and make use of their free coffee and tea. “There’s a communal space here,” Hickey says, “where you [can] come to chill out. There is a real lack of third spaces, and I feel for Trinity in that we’re so limited with the size.” But the chaplains don’t want it to be for studying. In a sense, the goal of the chaplaincy is to facilitate community. “It’s a place for people to be together in college,” Canon Arbuthnot said. “It provides a college experience, and a place where people can meet.”
There is also, famously, free soup on Tuesdays from midday: the great mission of the soup is to bring students together. Fr O’Sullivan, who’s been a Chaplain for ten years at Trinity, said that the chaplaincy aren’t seeing the same numbers for the offered soup that they did before the pandemic. Especially for students who commute in, Canon Arbuthnot worries, there is a risk of losing “that sense of a gathered college. Chaplaincy is one of the last vestiges of old college life.” The chaplains used to attend every student orientation in September, but that was abolished. Fr Sexton remembers going to the Royal Dublin Society to cheer students up on their way into exams. “People often don’t know how to relate to you,” O’Sullivan said, and that can make it hard to settle into the role.
The chaplaincy wants to maintain their place as a fully integrated part of college life — they won’t stop working on that. And they promise that their aim is not to convert students, but to simply provide another place of inclusion: “the Chaplaincy is available for everyone, and anyone can show up,” Hickey said. “A Chaplain should be someone who seeks authentic faith, builds community, and cares for others. That’s it.”
