What is a Chaplain?

At our GISI training in April 2026, we invited CIC’s volunteer chaplains to reflect on a simple but meaningful question: What is a chaplain?

Through a series of thoughtful prompts, volunteers shared words, reflections, and experiences drawn from their time serving inside our county’s correctional facilities. Their responses spoke to what chaplaincy looks like in practice—showing up, listening without judgment, offering compassion, creating connection, and simply being present.

Those collective voices became the “What Is a Chaplain?” booklet.

Rather than defining chaplaincy for our volunteers, this booklet was created by them. It reflects the wisdom and experience of people who walk alongside individuals during some of the most difficult moments of their lives.

Each response is different, but together they tell a shared story of what it means to offer compassionate spiritual care and a reminder that sometimes the most meaningful thing we can offer another person is our presence.

This is their experience.

click on Image to view booklet