New show shines light on vital role of chaplains

The work of hospital, prison, and university chaplains are the focus of ‘Ministry of Hope’, the second episode of which is screened on RTÉ One this Thursday. The series concentrates on Margaret Sleator, one of the first ever lay chaplain in Dublin’s Mater Misericordiae University Hospital, Catherine Black chaplain to Arklow, Co Wicklow’s Shelton Abbey Open Prison, and Philip McKinley of Dublin City University’s multi-denominational chaplaincy team. Tasked with offering guidance and support, Margaret says she is there to “try to bring reassurance, hope, silence, a little prayer if they want”, while Philip says students value “welcome and warmth and a place where you are not judged.”