It’s a job that we don’t talk about much, but which is nevertheless part of the life of hospitals: chaplains. They visit the sick, say the prayers and even the last rites. Like caregivers, they have an employment contract to intervene in hospitals as provided by law, under the freedom of worship of patients. But from year to year, their number is decreasing due to the vocations crisis, but also to constrained hospital budgets, because a quarter of chaplains are paid by public hospitals.
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The Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (APHP) has, for example, ten fewer chaplains over the past five years. This is the consequence of retirements, according to management. But above all, according to the different cults, this testifies to constrained budgets in hospitals. This is what notices Thierry, Protestant chaplain and employee for six years: “When I was tasked with opening chaplain positions, I heard myself say several times: ‘Volunteering yes, but to pay you, the budget is already full with the existing chaplains, so when we have a another chaplain from another cult who will leave, we will try to shave him down to give you a 10%, a 15%…'”he slips.
Chain part-time in different hospitals
To work the equivalent of full time, Thierry connects meetings and prayers with patients in eight different hospitals in the Paris region. “It’s 10%, 15%, 20% in each hospital center”, he says. Part-time work on the right and on the left and declining numbers for Protestants in recent years with only 150 salaried chaplains. There are even fewer for Muslims: only 75 are paid in France.
Catholics are the most represented with 800 paid chaplains, but they lose 3 to 4% of staff every year. According to their national representative Costantino Fiore, it is also an effect of the compulsory training put in place for six years.
“You need a university degree on secularism and the values of the Republic. This weight of training can discourage some volunteers, especially since recognition at the salary level is rather limited. This makes the position less and less attractive.”
Costantino Fioreat franceinfo
For years, cults have been asking for a salary increase from the Ministry of Health. The basic salary is around 1,700 euros gross for full time, the equivalent of the salary of an agent in category C, the lowest in the public service. According to the latest figures, in 2018, the overall budget spent by hospitals on chaplaincy services was 13 million euros.