SU: First pagan chaplain appointed

From The Daily Orange:

By Rebecca Kheel

Posted: 2/14/10, 11:36 PM EST

Hendricks Chapel recognized Mary Hudson as its first pagan chaplain on Feb. 1, in line with its goal of being more inclusive of all religions on campus.

This is the first new chaplain since the appointments of the Buddhist and the historically black church chaplains and the 11th chaplain at Hendricks. As a chaplain, Hudson will work at Hendricks two days a week, sponsor community outreaches and be apart of the Chaplains Council.

Syracuse University may be only the second university in the nation to have a pagan chaplain, Hudson said. The only other one she was aware of is at the University of Southern Maine.

Hudson said she hopes her appointment will help the SU community become more aware and understanding of the pagan community. Although she said there is more awareness and respect than the past, she hopes the chaplaincy will help stigmas and stereotypes disappear.

"(Hendricks has) always put us on equal standing as any other religious group, but to have a pagan chaplain is slightly different in a good, good way," she said.

Hudson helped found Student Pagan Information Relations and Learning, or SPIRAL, at SU nine years ago and has continued advising the group since then. Hudson left her job as an IT director at the College of Human Ecology in December, but she wanted to find a way to continue working with the students in SPIRAL. She said she spoke with Tom Wolfe, the senior vice president and dean of student affairs, and realized she was qualified to be a chaplain at Hendricks because she was already ordained by a church.

There is only a small minority of pagans on SU's campus, with 11 reported in Hendricks statistics in fall 2009. Hudson said she believes her chaplaincy will help a larger portion of the student body than just those who identify as pagans. She said there are many pagans that may not declare as pagan to the university because they do not know what resources are available.

"I know there are pagan students who don't know we're there," Hudson said. "It's inevitable that I have a student who comes in their junior or senior year who says, 'If I'd only known that you guys were here when I was a freshman, I would have been with you all four years.' So I want to make sure that the pagans that are on campus understand that we're there as a resource for them."

The appointment was the result of a mutual conversation that began in October between Hudson; Kelly Sprinkle, Hendricks Chapel's interim dean; and the Church of the Greenwood, the pagan church sponsoring Hudson's chaplaincy, Sprinkle said.

Appointing a pagan chaplain demonstrates Hendricks' commitment to be inclusive of all religions, Sprinkle said. He said he thinks Hudson will add depth to the chapel.

"It pushes us to explore new possibilities, as well," Sprinkle said. "It helps us welcome voices that we may not always hear from."

Hudson will also continue working with SPIRAL as part of her new job.

Jessica Mays, the president of SPIRAL, said she thinks Hudson moving from SPIRAL's adviser to its chaplain is a step in the right direction toward more awareness of paganism on campus. Even though Hendricks has been supportive in the past, Mays said she hopes having a pagan chaplain will garner even more support.

"I would like to see us get more of the student body not necessarily involved but to know we're there and to know that we're normal people," said Mays, a junior in the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

Mays said she believes Hudson is the perfect person to make that a reality.

"She's very smart, but she's also very articulate, which is what you're going to have to be," Mays said. "Being in an interfaith school where most of the religions are a branch off of Christianity, you have to be able to say what you need to say and say it well as to not offend everybody, but also know what it is that you believe in and stand by what you believe in."

hat tip: Fr. Dick Kim