The Chaplaincy Institute of Maine (ChIME) educates and ordains interfaith leaders who serve with integrity, spiritual presence, and prophetic voice. Our school for adult learners operates September through June, concluding with the ordination of a number of new Interfaith Chaplains each year. This photo is from ordination at the First Parish United Church of Christ in Saco, June 2016.
Since 2004, ChIME has ordained 140 Interfaith Chaplains, who serve in a variety of community-based organizations in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts, as well as other states around the country, including hospitals, hospice programs, prisons, eldercare facilities, and those serving people without homes, to name a few.
Not everyone who comes to ChIME seeks a traditional chaplaincy placement, however. ChIME also supports individuals seeking to deepen their spiritual growth and practice, in community with other spiritual seekers during our two-to-three year program. You can become a celebrant for interfaith community ceremonies and rituals, such as baby namings, weddings, organizational meetings, worship services, end of life care, funerals, and memorials. Your ministry may be solely within your family, for example, or through the arts, or through deepening your lifelong calling to another field of work.
ChIME’s accessible programs accommodate students with jobs and families by scheduling the classes on weekly evenings and one weekend workshop per month. Some weekend workshops are open to the public. ChIME also offers student-led Interfaith worship services with an emphasis on the expressive arts, integrating body, mind and spirit, using the wisdom of indigenous peoples, and the themes of love and compassion from the world’s religions. You are invited to check us out. We are located at 302 Stevens Avenue in Portland. Call 207-347-6740, or join our email list at www.chimeofmaine.org, or like us on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/chimeofmaine/
