New poll documents role and influence of chaplains

American adults who have been served by chaplains hail the ministers for providing compassionate and effective care during some of the most difficult moments of life, a new study shows.

“Most people say the interaction they had with a chaplain was valuable to them — 44% call it very valuable and 32% moderately valuable. Another 17% say it was only a little valuable, while 7% describe it as not valuable at all,” according to a December Gallup survey.

“Additionally, people who have interacted with a chaplain almost universally ascribe positive characteristics to that person, with 95% calling them compassionate and roughly nine in 10 recalling them being a good listener, spiritual, helpful, trustworthy and knowledgeable. Relatively few say the chaplain was intrusive, pushy or condescending,” Gallup reported.