Have the Foundations Crumbled Beyond Repair?

Reflections of a School Chaplain

Imagine watching a solid foundation shift, crack and ultimately crumble. Everything that was built upon it falls. What about moral and ethical infrastructures? What happens to entire societies when those foundations fall?

The subtle creeping in of trouble often goes undetected until it’s too late. However, repairs can be made if one notices the cracks. School chaplains can help students regain their footing.

Ideas for the new and improved are the bedrock of growth. We definitely want that! Right? 

Let’s also recognize that student resilience for the future is built upon historically solid foundations.

Attempts to remove the moral compass from the public square has resulted in a stripping away of   healthy interactive relationships. Instead of community and collaboration, there is striving and stagnation. Has society become more stable, or more full of hate?  The school chaplain seeks to enhance a nurturing atmosphere because children become a product of their environment. 

Domestic violence and sexual abuse of children have long been a travesty. Children don’t have the luxury of turning off the trauma before entering the school doors. Now, all kids are being exposed to a higher level of bullying and sexual content of which they are not developmentally ready to process.

This pressure interferes with academic and mental health. The student / mental health counselor ratio is unmanageable.  Adding a school chaplain to the team helps provide holistic care.

Like guardrails on a highway, we need moral and ethical guidelines founded in spiritual principles. Helping children set self-care boundaries can help prevent falling prey to further exploitation and break the cycle of abuse.

Schools have the privilege of shaping a stable society for all. Will the choice to be to reflect and build upon what has already proven to work, or will an entitled and adrift society squelch the true potential of an engaged mind to learn and work? 

Margaret Thatcher said it best: “So long as freedom, that is freedom with responsibility, is grounded in morality and religion, it will last far longer than the kind that is grounded only in abstract, philosophical notions….

20th century Russia entered into the greatest experiment in government and atheism the world had ever seen, just as America several centuries earlier had entered into the world’s greatest experiment in freedom and faith.”  (Thatcher, Margaret 1995  "The Moral Foundations of Society.")

“Although secular systems are ostensibly rational, they can weaken without an absolute anchor. This can lead to moral relativism where ethics bend to majority rule or power dynamics. There is evidence to suggest that religious societies exhibit higher cohesion through shared rituals and foundations based in transcendent meaning.” (Finn, 2025)

“If the foundations [of a godly society] are destroyed, What can the righteous do?” (Psalm 11:3, Amplified translation).

An analysis of a failed society reminds us of the chilling words of Adolf Hitler who once said: “Give me children, and in ten years, I will have changed society.”  

However, a school chaplain may be the one person, who could change the trajectory of a life —a ripple effect, thereby changes society.

Breaking writer protocol, allow me to use my own example: Poverty knows no color and we don’t have to be defined by our circumstances.

I was born to a poor and uneducated family and grew up in isolation without opportunity. I escaped death from an abusive first husband, who forced me to quit high school, but by the grace of God, I escaped with a few clothes in a paper bag and my toddler holding my other hand. I adjusted, remarried, raised four spiritually grounded, socially responsible and productive children who likewise are raising their children. We all attribute our successes to faith, love and education. Against all odds, I graduated with a Masters degree from Duke University. Post retirement, I’m still paying student loans. No one handed me these things on a silver platter. I didn’t bash America or blame other people.

All things are possible with God.

School Chaplains are a step toward renewal. They listen to the matters of the heart. Thoughts of defeat and poor self-image are redirected toward destiny.  Full potential awaits our decision to go back to the future and rebuild the firm foundations.

Moving Forward

- Everyone can help raise awareness and advocate for the inclusion of chaplains in the schools.

- Many see the urgency to contribute financially, expediting this long overdue necessity.

- Perhaps you or someone you know may consider becoming a Certified School Chaplain.

  National School Chaplain Association (NSCA) https://www.nationalschoolchaplainassociation.org/

References:

     Finn, Kevin, (August 2025) Faith and a Moral Society, American Thinker                       https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2025/08/faith_and_a_moral_society.html

    Thatcher, Margaret (1995) The Moral Foundations of Society, Imprimis                           https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/the-moral-foundations-of-society/

👉 Learn more at the National School Chaplain Association: https://www.nationalschoolchaplainassociation.org/

✦ “If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” —Psalm 11:3

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