Asbury Park Press, NJ
07-24-06
Workplace chaplains answer a higher calling and help the bottom line
BY JERRY PERKINS
GANNETT NEWS SERVICE
PERRY, Iowa — Louis Hoger and Erasmo Velez minister to 1,100 Tyson Foods
Inc. employees, walking a narrow path between religion and work.
As Tyson chaplains, Hoger and Velez face the challenge of bringing spirituality to
employees at the fast-paced plant in Perry, where more than 7,000 hogs are
butchered a day. A worker's personal problems can be pushed to the side in a
place where hog carcasses hanging by their heels roll rapidly by on the
production line, rivulets of blood running from v-shaped cuts under their jowls.
Tyson's chaplaincy program is in seven plants in Iowa and 81 nationally. It's part
of a trend in corporate America to care for employees holistically and promote
"faith-friendly" workplaces, said David Miller, executive director of the Yale
Divinity School's Center for Faith and Culture.
Companies from Coca-Cola Bottling Co. to Betts Auto Campus in central Iowa
provide chaplains for their employees.
"People don't want to leave their soul in the parking lot when they come to work,"
Miller said.
But corporate chaplaincy programs are also risky, critics say. Chaplains must
keep workers' confidences while serving a corporate master. They also must be
spiritual without being dogmatic.
Tyson's chaplain mission statement says the chaplains are there "to provide
pastoral care, counseling and visitation to Tyson team members and their
families, regardless of religious affiliation or beliefs."
Hoger and Velez say they don't preach a specific religion.
"All faiths include no faith," said Hoger, 61, who also is a pastor at the Mount
Olivet American Lutheran Church in Perry.
Velez, 69, a native of Puerto Rico, is a Spanish-speaking Presbyterian minister
who works with Latinos in Perry.
Hoger and Velez have been part-time chaplains since the plant's chaplaincy
program began in June 2005.
Their duties are to help Tyson employees cope with personal issues, including
drug or alcohol abuse and family problems.
They officiate at weddings and funerals of Tyson workers and their families, visit
them in the hospital, or just make small talk about what's happening in life
outside the plant's gate.
Hector Avalos, associate professor of religious studies at Iowa State University,
said chaplaincy programs can be a positive influence on the job, but there is a
potential for abuse.
"It might sound good and everybody would approve of it, but this is one of those
cases where people should be careful what they wish for," Avalos said. "If they
start making decisions on hiring or firing based on faith, then that's
discriminatory."
Miller, who also is an assistant professor of business ethics at Yale,
acknowledged that some people might feel coerced to accept a certain dogma.
"There's always the danger of misuse," he said.
For a chaplaincy program to work, companies need to hire good chaplains and
monitor their activities, he said.
Religion was never discussed when Hoger and Velez struck up a conversation
with Fernando Casteneda and Jesus Ramirez, who were eating lunch in the
Tyson plant's cafeteria.
As the conversation switched back and forth between English and Spanish, the
men discussed wearing the proper safety equipment on the job, Casteneda's
recent purchase of a house and his soon-to-be 1-year-old daughter.
After 15 minutes or so, Hoger and Velez left the men.
"They didn't need counseling, but now they know we're here," Hoger said as he
walked away. "It might be three weeks or three months before they need us, but
they know we're available."
"At the beginning," said Velez, "(employees) didn't understand our presence, and
they didn't know how to approach us. But now they understand and come and
visit with us."
Myron Clemens of Ogden, Iowa, a utility worker and trainer, watched Hoger and
Velez as they made their rounds.
"It's nice to have them around," he said. "It's nice to have the spiritual help if
people have a problem and need to talk to them about it."
Supervisor Brian Jackson has found that the chaplains are a good link between
supervisors and other workers.
"When it's a little too personal for us, they can help team members with their
personal problems," Jackson said.