Meet the ‘Lone Survivor’ priest and ‘Grunt Padre’ author who’s now the head chaplain of the Coast Guard
Father Daniel Mode was the chaplain for the “Lone Survivor” SEAL team in Afghanistan and has authored a book about the famed “Grunt Padre,” Father Vincent Capodanno.
Now there’s a new distinction on Mode’s impressive service record: leading the chaplaincy efforts of the U.S. Coast Guard, the first Catholic priest to hold that important role in 12 years.
Yet Mode, 57, says his greatest mission is bringing the peace of Jesus Christ to the service members and civilians to whom he ministers.
“Peace is kind of my mantra,” Mode told CNA.
READ ON: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253550/meet-the-lone-survivor-priest-and-grunt-padre-author-whos-now-the-head-chaplain-of-the-coast-guard
Now there’s a new distinction on Mode’s impressive service record: leading the chaplaincy efforts of the U.S. Coast Guard, the first Catholic priest to hold that important role in 12 years.
Yet Mode, 57, says his greatest mission is bringing the peace of Jesus Christ to the service members and civilians to whom he ministers.
“Peace is kind of my mantra,” Mode told CNA.
READ ON: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/253550/meet-the-lone-survivor-priest-and-grunt-padre-author-whos-now-the-head-chaplain-of-the-coast-guard
PHILADELPHIA EAGLES CHAPLAINS PROVIDE SPIRITUAL BOOST FOR THE BIRDS
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- If the Eagles win Super Bowl 57, it may be because of divine intervention.
For more than two decades, the team has been guided by two very devoted chaplains who not only pray for the safety of each player but help to uplift them spiritually as well.
For nearly 22 years, Pastors Ted and Dawn Winsley of The Family Church in Voorhees have been the spiritual backbone for the Birds.
The husband and wife are the team's chaplains for the coaches, players and their significant others.
"Many of the players weren't prepared for this level of access, this level of freedom. This ability to do whatever comes into their mind," said Pastor Ted Winsley.
READ ON: https://6abc.com/philadelphia-eagles-super-bowl-2023-pastors-ted-and-dawn-winsley-the-family-church/12760343/
For more than two decades, the team has been guided by two very devoted chaplains who not only pray for the safety of each player but help to uplift them spiritually as well.
For nearly 22 years, Pastors Ted and Dawn Winsley of The Family Church in Voorhees have been the spiritual backbone for the Birds.
The husband and wife are the team's chaplains for the coaches, players and their significant others.
"Many of the players weren't prepared for this level of access, this level of freedom. This ability to do whatever comes into their mind," said Pastor Ted Winsley.
READ ON: https://6abc.com/philadelphia-eagles-super-bowl-2023-pastors-ted-and-dawn-winsley-the-family-church/12760343/
How the Navy Chaplain Corps Safeguards Marine Readiness
SOUTH CHINA SEA -- The U.S. Marine Corps is a fight-tonight force. The Marine Corps’ brand is based on persistent readiness, and its ability to rapidly respond to emergent crises. What makes the Marine Corps unique is that our brand is embodied by the spirit of the individual Marine. Our readiness goes deeper than administrative requirements, up-to-date medical records, and vehicle and aircraft maintenance. The spirit of the Marine is what drives our Corps. Therefore, spiritual readiness is a keystone element of the Marine Corps’ value to the Department of Defense. The U.S. Navy Chaplain Corps is the backbone of ensuring high levels of spiritual readiness.
“Spiritual readiness is the ability of a warfighter to accomplish their mission with honor,” said Lt. Cmdr. Austin Grimes, chaplain, 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit. “It derives from one’s deeply held religious and philosophical commitments – the north star of one’s conscience.”
The Religious Ministry Team for the 13th MEU, currently deployed in the Indo-Pacific region, provide spiritual guidance to assist Marines and Sailors in their pursuit toward spiritual stability and progression.
“Being a chaplain is less of a job and more of a calling,” said Grimes. “Some spend decades working as civilian clergy and then feel a calling to be spiritual leaders for Marines and Sailors.”
READ ON: https://www.marines.mil/News/News-Display/Article/3280196/how-the-navy-chaplain-corps-safeguards-marine-readiness/
“Spiritual readiness is the ability of a warfighter to accomplish their mission with honor,” said Lt. Cmdr. Austin Grimes, chaplain, 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit. “It derives from one’s deeply held religious and philosophical commitments – the north star of one’s conscience.”
The Religious Ministry Team for the 13th MEU, currently deployed in the Indo-Pacific region, provide spiritual guidance to assist Marines and Sailors in their pursuit toward spiritual stability and progression.
“Being a chaplain is less of a job and more of a calling,” said Grimes. “Some spend decades working as civilian clergy and then feel a calling to be spiritual leaders for Marines and Sailors.”
READ ON: https://www.marines.mil/News/News-Display/Article/3280196/how-the-navy-chaplain-corps-safeguards-marine-readiness/
A call to empathy: Police chaplains help community navigate grief and tragedy regardless of religion
When a violent crime or tragedy occurs in Hampton Roads, police officers and emergency services are usually the first to respond. Often, a chaplain responds to the scene with them.
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Law enforcement chaplains work as an important intermediary. As a key piece of a team of first-responders, their job is to comfort family members or survivors who may have lost a loved one while deputies and officers work a scene. They also work with police officers individually, offering confidential mental health support and counseling. During their shifts, they ride along with police officers during their rounds, and it is their job to help lessen the impact of what bearing witness to trauma and tragedy can do to officers.
READ ON: https://news.yahoo.com/call-empathy-police-chaplains-help-124400700.html
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Law enforcement chaplains work as an important intermediary. As a key piece of a team of first-responders, their job is to comfort family members or survivors who may have lost a loved one while deputies and officers work a scene. They also work with police officers individually, offering confidential mental health support and counseling. During their shifts, they ride along with police officers during their rounds, and it is their job to help lessen the impact of what bearing witness to trauma and tragedy can do to officers.
READ ON: https://news.yahoo.com/call-empathy-police-chaplains-help-124400700.html
Why Set Up Faith-Oriented Employee Resource Groups?
Faith-oriented ERGs provide terrific avenues for employees to connect with, to pray and worship with, and to draw inspiration and encouragement from people of like faith. By officially acknowledging faith as an integral part of diversity, a company sends a powerful message: That people of various faiths are valued for who they truly are. Employees need not go “under cover” with their particular faith. They can truly “be themselves” at work.
If this was all that faith-oriented ERGs accomplished, it’d be worth the effort. But there’s more. In nearly all companies, these ERGs also serve as significant bridge-builders — channels of connection and collaboration across faiths. They accomplish this unifying and reconciling role in ways that do not dilute or compromise participants’ personal commitments.
Both roles can be positively transformative.
READ ON: https://religiousfreedomandbusiness.org/2/post/2021/04/why-set-up-faith-oriented-employee-resource-groups.html
If this was all that faith-oriented ERGs accomplished, it’d be worth the effort. But there’s more. In nearly all companies, these ERGs also serve as significant bridge-builders — channels of connection and collaboration across faiths. They accomplish this unifying and reconciling role in ways that do not dilute or compromise participants’ personal commitments.
Both roles can be positively transformative.
READ ON: https://religiousfreedomandbusiness.org/2/post/2021/04/why-set-up-faith-oriented-employee-resource-groups.html
Why Should Companies Acknowledge the Faiths of Their Employees?
Problem: Employees are quitting their jobs due to feeling undervalued, possibly since the companies they work for do not consider how important faith is to them.
Solution: The Intel Corporation’s Craig Carter shows that when companies have cross-faith groups that offer love, excitement, equality, and commonality, employees feel valued and companies benefit. Presented at the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation’s 2022 Dare to Overcome conference at The Catholic University of America’s Busch School of Business in Washington DC.
According to Pew Research, 84% of Americans either claim to have a religious background or identify as atheists or agnostics. Faith does not matter to the other 16%.
Pew Research determined that the amount of people from all around the world affiliated with faiths, except for atheism or agnosticism, may increase from 83% in 2010 to 87% in 2050.
84% of black people, according to Pew Research, view their faiths as significant. The same goes for 70% of women, 68% of hispanic people, 62% of white people, and 60% of men.
By respecting the faith of employees, leaders could create an authentic culture within their companies and, according to a Harvard Business Review, receive 50% higher performance from their teams. Employees could express 76% higher engagement, 106% more energy, 74% less stress, and 29% higher life satisfaction.
READ ON: https://religiousfreedomandbusiness.org/2/post/2022/07/why-should-companies-acknowledge-the-faiths-of-their-employees.html
Solution: The Intel Corporation’s Craig Carter shows that when companies have cross-faith groups that offer love, excitement, equality, and commonality, employees feel valued and companies benefit. Presented at the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation’s 2022 Dare to Overcome conference at The Catholic University of America’s Busch School of Business in Washington DC.
According to Pew Research, 84% of Americans either claim to have a religious background or identify as atheists or agnostics. Faith does not matter to the other 16%.
Pew Research determined that the amount of people from all around the world affiliated with faiths, except for atheism or agnosticism, may increase from 83% in 2010 to 87% in 2050.
84% of black people, according to Pew Research, view their faiths as significant. The same goes for 70% of women, 68% of hispanic people, 62% of white people, and 60% of men.
By respecting the faith of employees, leaders could create an authentic culture within their companies and, according to a Harvard Business Review, receive 50% higher performance from their teams. Employees could express 76% higher engagement, 106% more energy, 74% less stress, and 29% higher life satisfaction.
READ ON: https://religiousfreedomandbusiness.org/2/post/2022/07/why-should-companies-acknowledge-the-faiths-of-their-employees.html
Multifaith leaders urge unity in aftermath of Monterey Park shooting that left 11 dead
ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE: Faith has a unique ability to heal both the believer and those around him or her. This is why we must live out our faith boldly.
MONTEREY PARK, Calif. (RNS) — The pews at St. Stephen Martyr Catholic Church were emptier than usual Sunday morning (Jan. 22) as news spread that a gunman responsible for killing 11 people at a nearby Monterey Park dance studio remained at large.
Star Ballroom Dance Studio, where 72-year-old Huu Can Tran opened fire, is less than half a mile from the church, and some parishioners skipped Mass out of fear the gunman “might pop up in a place where a lot of us are congregating,” said the Rev. Joseph Magdaong, who pastors St. Stephen Martyr.
In response to the shooting, Magdaong will celebrate a special Mass on Friday “to pray for the victims and for all of us to be strong and to have the faith that we need to be able to heal and make sense of this tragedy.”
Magdaong was among the Christian and Jewish leaders who attended a candlelight vigil Monday night at Monterey Park City Hall to accompany residents as they mourned the 11 slain victims, who were in their 50s, 60s and 70s. The death toll rose to 11 on Monday after one of the people who was wounded died.
READ ON: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/multifaith-leaders-urge-unity-in-aftermath-of-monterey-park-shooting-that-left-11-dead/ar-AA16H0S6
MONTEREY PARK, Calif. (RNS) — The pews at St. Stephen Martyr Catholic Church were emptier than usual Sunday morning (Jan. 22) as news spread that a gunman responsible for killing 11 people at a nearby Monterey Park dance studio remained at large.
Star Ballroom Dance Studio, where 72-year-old Huu Can Tran opened fire, is less than half a mile from the church, and some parishioners skipped Mass out of fear the gunman “might pop up in a place where a lot of us are congregating,” said the Rev. Joseph Magdaong, who pastors St. Stephen Martyr.
In response to the shooting, Magdaong will celebrate a special Mass on Friday “to pray for the victims and for all of us to be strong and to have the faith that we need to be able to heal and make sense of this tragedy.”
Magdaong was among the Christian and Jewish leaders who attended a candlelight vigil Monday night at Monterey Park City Hall to accompany residents as they mourned the 11 slain victims, who were in their 50s, 60s and 70s. The death toll rose to 11 on Monday after one of the people who was wounded died.
READ ON: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/multifaith-leaders-urge-unity-in-aftermath-of-monterey-park-shooting-that-left-11-dead/ar-AA16H0S6
Spiritual Health is as Important as Physical Health, New Report
Originally posted at RFBF: https://religiousfreedomandbusiness.org/2/post/2023/01/spiritual-health-as-important-as-physical-health-according-to-new-mckinsey-report.html?utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=bookmark
As organizations seek to keep workforces healthy and productive, an area needing more attention – spiritual health
A new initiative from McKinsey & Co. identifies spiritual health as one of four interconnected components of overall health.
The McKinsey Health Institute’s report last month, The secret to great health? Escaping the healthcare matrix, found that healthcare systems focus almost entirely on physical health, with more than 90% money spent on healthcare going toward treating physical disease or physical symptoms. However, most people consider that mental, social, and spiritual health are as important as physical health and that they are deeply interconnected.
Significantly, McKinsey goes beyond the World Health Organization’s definition of health, which includes physical, mental and social, but not spiritual* health.
A new initiative from McKinsey & Co. identifies spiritual health as one of four interconnected components of overall health.
The McKinsey Health Institute’s report last month, The secret to great health? Escaping the healthcare matrix, found that healthcare systems focus almost entirely on physical health, with more than 90% money spent on healthcare going toward treating physical disease or physical symptoms. However, most people consider that mental, social, and spiritual health are as important as physical health and that they are deeply interconnected.
Significantly, McKinsey goes beyond the World Health Organization’s definition of health, which includes physical, mental and social, but not spiritual* health.
In a recent survey of 19,000 people across 19 countries, McKinsey reports that more than 8-in-10 people said that their mental health was as important to them as their physical health. Likewise, the majority also said that spiritual and social health were “extremely” or “very important” to them. And this was not a function of the socio-economic position of a country. These views were shared across high-, middle-, and low-income countries.
Indeed, as organizations seek to keep workforces healthy and productive, an area needing more attention is spiritual health.
READ ON : https://religiousfreedomandbusiness.org/2/post/2023/01/spiritual-health-as-important-as-physical-health-according-to-new-mckinsey-report.html
Indeed, as organizations seek to keep workforces healthy and productive, an area needing more attention is spiritual health.
READ ON : https://religiousfreedomandbusiness.org/2/post/2023/01/spiritual-health-as-important-as-physical-health-according-to-new-mckinsey-report.html
Are Your DE&I Efforts Missing This One Critical Component?
If you want employees to bring their whole selves to work—as most companies say they do—it's important to acknowledge that faith is an essential part of many people's identity.
By Denise Lee Yohn January 3, 2023
If you're wondering why your diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) efforts are falling short, it might be because they're missing one of the most critical components of diversity: faith.
According to a new poll conducted by HarrisX on religion and business, American workers are generally supportive of efforts to help religious employees bring their "whole selves" to work. The research also revealed that 80 percent of business leaders think it's "good for company culture" to encourage employees to be open about their faith.
And yet, most companies' DE&I approaches overlook faith. A study by the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation found that only 37 Fortune 500 companies (7.4 percent) publicly report having faith-oriented employee resource groups (ERGs). While a higher portion of companies (40 percent) refer to religion on their main diversity landing page, many only do so as part of their general nondiscrimination statement.
If your company is among those that lack institutionalized support of religion or faith in your workforce development efforts, you and your fellow leaders might be underestimating the importance of doing so to achieve authentic, comprehensive and impactful DE&I. Consider that a Marist poll found that 71 percent of Americans consider themselves to be spiritual. And nearly two-thirds (63 percent) say that religious teachings are a source of moral guidance.
So, if you want employees to bring their whole selves to work—as most companies say they do—you must acknowledge that faith is an essential part of many people's identity.
Perhaps you hesitate to draw attention to what appears to be a personal, sensitive issue. After all, we've all heard we're not supposed to talk about religion, sex or politics. But most companies embrace sexual orientation as an important component of DE&I, and business leaders are becoming increasingly comfortable taking stands for themselves or their companies on political issues such as abortion rights and immigration. So, it no longer makes sense to exclude faith from the business conversation.
How to Support Employees' Faith, Spirituality
To ensure your company includes religion in its DE&I efforts, encouraging faith-based ERGs is a good starting point. ERGs have become an effective way for companies to promote a respectful and inclusive culture while also bolstering employee recruitment and community engagement. So, sanction the creation of a faith-based ERG(s). Or, if you already have one, promote employee involvement and provide the resources and support needed for it to flourish.
Supporting faith-based ERGs is only the starting point—and perhaps the easiest step—to ensuring robust and thorough DE&I efforts. Cultivating a culture that embraces faith alongside other diversity dimensions requires substantive work, such as providing support for spiritual care and development.
Workplace chaplains would play a valuable role in delivering holistic care for corporations, as they do for sports teams, hospitals and the military. Also consider reimbursement for faith-based leadership development programs, faith-based mentoring/coaching and even faith-based mental health counseling.
Beyond engaging specific DE&I tactics, you must promote a culture of psychological safety around expressions of faith—expressions that range from participating in religious observances and practices to conforming to religious norms in dress and appearance, as well as simply discussing faith in conversations.
Supporting faith in conversations is particularly important because people of faith may hold beliefs that run contrary to the seemingly dominant views on topics such as abortion or LGBTQ issues. Others—especially company leaders—should not assume that everyone agrees with them. Through training, role modeling by leaders and sharing success stories, you can help employees understand how to create space for safe and respectful conversations and contribute to a culture of psychological safety.
Moreover, you can cultivate psychological safety by eliminating unconscious bias. While you may be working on unconscious bias in gender, age and ethnicity, you should also add faith. Start by simply acknowledging that faith is a dimension that can subconsciously affect the way individuals feel and think about others around them and result in discrimination. Then, include faith in training that helps people manage their biases, change their attitudes and behaviors, and track their progress. Sometimes, basic education about different faith traditions can be eye-opening.
Finally, make sure to examine company processes (such as hiring algorithms and interview panels), policies (including health care and leaves), and practices (like meeting scheduling, rewards and recognition) to see how they should be changed to reduce faith-related bias.
Promoting DE&I is hard work, and adding faith may seem like an unnecessary or even unwanted complication. But to neglect or reject it will hold back your diversity efforts overall. After all, your stakeholders—customers, employees and community leaders—are looking for your company to go beyond lip service and virtue signaling. The best way is to do the hard work, focus your efforts on factors at the core of people's identity and take a leap of faith—literally.
Denise Lee Yohn is a brand leadership expert, keynote speaker and best-selling author of books such as Fusion (Nicholas Brealey, 2018) and What Great Brands Do (Jossey-Bass, 2014).
INCLUSION DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION INITIATIVES EMPLOYEE RELATIONS RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATIONS
https://chaplaincyinnovation.org/2022/12/airport-chaplaincy?utm_source=Chaplaincy+Innovation+Lab&utm_campaign=af89b71e95-Webinars+2022-09-26_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3ee179508c-af89b71e95-245206563
By Jonathan A. Segal* | Guest Post on our blog series, Authenticity & Connection.
Last year, a company wanted to celebrate the holidays but without risking offending anyone in the process. Out of an abundance of caution, they did not have a “holiday” party. Instead, as recommended by a consultant, they had a “December dinner.”
Per that same consultant, they did not have a Christmas tree. Instead, they had a “Seasonal Evergreen.”
There are other examples. But, I think you can see the movie.
The company took the issue very seriously but they ended up looking very silly instead. They did not want to offend anyone but they ended up offending almost everyone.
We cannot tell our employees we want them to be their authentic selves but then tell them to check their faith at the workplace door. For many employees, faith is an important part of who they are.
Inclusion relative to faith means everyone and that includes Christians. And, how an employer handles Christmas sends a small but still symbolic message about the inclusion of those of the Christian faith.
So, please, don’t attempt to eliminate Christmas from the holiday season. Acknowledge Christmas but also acknowledge other holidays, too.
It is more than okay to have a holiday party and specifically mention Christmas in connection with it. Just mention other holidays too, such as Hanukkah, Bodhi Day and Kwanza.
Please, have a beautiful Christmas tree. But have a Menorah and Kwanza harvest basket, too.
And, yes, you can wish someone a Merry Christmas if you know they celebrate the holiday. Frankly, if you know someone celebrates Christmas but wish them Season’s Greetings instead, it feels a bit uncharitable to me.
I very much appreciate when someone wishes me a Happy Hanukkah because they know I am Jewish. An important part of my family, culture and me is acknowledged in the process.
But some think: it is very hard to acknowledge all faiths so it is better to acknowledge none at all. The focus on the perfect is the enemy of the good.
Further, it is possible to cast a wide net of inclusivity relative to faith during the holiday season. And so I shall try.
For those of you who celebrate Christmas, may the peace and happiness of Christmas be yours.
For those of you who observe Bodhi Day, may it be a blessed day.
For those of you who celebrate Hanukkah, I will be lighting a candle with you to celebrate our resilience.
For those whose seasonal holidays I did not mention, they—like you—are no less important and I respect your faith, too.
For those of you who celebrate holidays at other times in the year or are of no faith but good faith, I wish you well just as well.
The December holidays provides us with an opportunity to focus on religious inclusivity and that includes Christmas. What we do now sets the tone for the year to come.
Erase Christmas from your workplace and all your subsequent efforts relative to the religious inclusivity will be for naught.
Merry Christmas to my Christian friends.
* Jonathan A Segal is a partner at the Duane Morris Law Firm. He also is the managing principal of the employment group’s training arm, the Duane Morris Institute. Previously a litigator, Jonathan’s practice focuses on avoiding discrimination, harassment and retaliation and increasing diversity, equality and inclusion. Jonathan has a particular passion for preventing religious bias both as a legal and cultural matter and for promoting religious inclusivity. With the alarming increase of antisemitism, preventing and addressing this form of hate has become core to Jonathan’s practice. Jonathan has provided training to federal judges for more than 20 years, is a frequent speaker at business, HR and other conferences, and has had published on 3rd party platforms approximately 500 articles/blogs.
By Jonathan A. Segal* | Guest Post on our blog series, Authenticity & Connection.
Last year, a company wanted to celebrate the holidays but without risking offending anyone in the process. Out of an abundance of caution, they did not have a “holiday” party. Instead, as recommended by a consultant, they had a “December dinner.”
Per that same consultant, they did not have a Christmas tree. Instead, they had a “Seasonal Evergreen.”
There are other examples. But, I think you can see the movie.
The company took the issue very seriously but they ended up looking very silly instead. They did not want to offend anyone but they ended up offending almost everyone.
We cannot tell our employees we want them to be their authentic selves but then tell them to check their faith at the workplace door. For many employees, faith is an important part of who they are.
Inclusion relative to faith means everyone and that includes Christians. And, how an employer handles Christmas sends a small but still symbolic message about the inclusion of those of the Christian faith.
So, please, don’t attempt to eliminate Christmas from the holiday season. Acknowledge Christmas but also acknowledge other holidays, too.
It is more than okay to have a holiday party and specifically mention Christmas in connection with it. Just mention other holidays too, such as Hanukkah, Bodhi Day and Kwanza.
Please, have a beautiful Christmas tree. But have a Menorah and Kwanza harvest basket, too.
And, yes, you can wish someone a Merry Christmas if you know they celebrate the holiday. Frankly, if you know someone celebrates Christmas but wish them Season’s Greetings instead, it feels a bit uncharitable to me.
I very much appreciate when someone wishes me a Happy Hanukkah because they know I am Jewish. An important part of my family, culture and me is acknowledged in the process.
But some think: it is very hard to acknowledge all faiths so it is better to acknowledge none at all. The focus on the perfect is the enemy of the good.
Further, it is possible to cast a wide net of inclusivity relative to faith during the holiday season. And so I shall try.
For those of you who celebrate Christmas, may the peace and happiness of Christmas be yours.
For those of you who observe Bodhi Day, may it be a blessed day.
For those of you who celebrate Hanukkah, I will be lighting a candle with you to celebrate our resilience.
For those whose seasonal holidays I did not mention, they—like you—are no less important and I respect your faith, too.
For those of you who celebrate holidays at other times in the year or are of no faith but good faith, I wish you well just as well.
The December holidays provides us with an opportunity to focus on religious inclusivity and that includes Christmas. What we do now sets the tone for the year to come.
Erase Christmas from your workplace and all your subsequent efforts relative to the religious inclusivity will be for naught.
Merry Christmas to my Christian friends.
* Jonathan A Segal is a partner at the Duane Morris Law Firm. He also is the managing principal of the employment group’s training arm, the Duane Morris Institute. Previously a litigator, Jonathan’s practice focuses on avoiding discrimination, harassment and retaliation and increasing diversity, equality and inclusion. Jonathan has a particular passion for preventing religious bias both as a legal and cultural matter and for promoting religious inclusivity. With the alarming increase of antisemitism, preventing and addressing this form of hate has become core to Jonathan’s practice. Jonathan has provided training to federal judges for more than 20 years, is a frequent speaker at business, HR and other conferences, and has had published on 3rd party platforms approximately 500 articles/blogs.
American Airlines Christian EBRG Christmas Display at American World Wide Fight Operations Control Center IOC
DFW Airport Chaplaincy Celebrates its 45th Anniversary at the Annual Spirit of Thanksgiving Luncheon
DFW Airport Interfaith Chaplaincy celebrated its 45th Anniversary on Friday at its Annual Spirit of Thanksgiving Luncheon held at the DFW Airport Hilton. Numerous business leaders, faith leaders, supporters, and partners from DFW Airport, American Airlines, and other organizations in the metroplex area were in attendance. Today DFW Airport is the largest Airport Chaplaincy in the world and our chaplains provide the priceless ministry of presence to countless travelers and employees annually at DFW Airport daily. A special thanks to all our faithful supporters who make this vibrant ministry possible!
Religion the forgotten dimension of workplace diversity
9 Nov, 2022
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Evaluating Workplace Religious Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Using the Kaizen HC Model of Religious Inclusion
By Dr. Ed Hasan, Washington, DC
Should a public servant be allowed to wear a crucifix at work? What about a kippah or a hijab?
These are deceptively simple questions that have been hotly debated throughout the world—in fact, the question of whether or not police officers should be allowed to wear religious dress has resurfaced in the Netherlands where it continues to be disallowed. So often the answer depends on one’s own religious conviction or lack thereof—and the conversation can descend into a quagmire of personal beliefs and perceptions about the role of neutrality in the public sector.
At the heart of these conversations is actually the concept of belonging: Who gets to show up as their full selves at work? And, how do we know the answer to that question?
It is undeniable that religious affiliation is a central influence on people’s identities. Despite this, religiously diverse people have been all but forgotten in workplace efforts around diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) initiatives. This means that organizations that embrace the importance of workers bringing their full identities to work when it comes to gender and race are ignoring a critical component of identity: religion. At the same time, according to a new Deseret News/HarrisX survey, 80% of business leaders say employees’ being open about their faiths is “good for company culture.”
So while many leaders see the importance of faith at work and are open to religion-related programming, religiously diverse people and religious identity aren’t being integrated into formal structures and DEIB initiatives the same way race and gender are. (It’s not all on business leaders. Only 54% of non-leaders agreed that faith is good for company culture—many seemingly due to a fear of repercussions or tension with colleagues.) Often, the result is that workers are forced to hide their religion. Employers would never require a worker to hide their race or gender–that would be unimaginable. Why, then, should we expect employees to hide their religious identities?
To become an organization that reaches DEIB maturity, it is imperative to embrace religious identity alongside other identities—and to do so formally and with as much dedication as any other identity.
But how does an organization, its leaders and employees, and society at large know how successful we are at including religious identity at work? How do we know what to do next?
Dr. Ed Hasan, Washington, DC Built upon both scholarship around religious diversity and work with organizations seeking to become more inclusive, the Kaizen HC Model of Religious Inclusion helps organizations, leaders, and workers evaluate religious inclusion practices and determine what the path ahead might be. There are four levels to the model:
Level 1: Avoidance – Organizations at this level do not recognize the need for religious diversity in the workplace. Most Level 1 organizations are homogenous and avoid the subject of religion or promote only one religion, often the dominant societal religion. Avoidance might look like refusing to discuss religious accommodations with employees whose needs are deemed strange or are different from the dominant religion, for example.
Level 2: Compliance – Organizations that reach this level meet existing legal requirements, but go no further. Level 2 organizations are guided by a desire to avoid lawsuits and associated costs. For instance, to be compliant, an organization may say that employees who are Muslim women are allowed to wear the hijab at work, but in reality, that employer might not actually hire any Muslim women who wear the hijab. Just because the bare minimum is being done to meet legal protections doesn’t mean religious people are actually being protected.
Level 3: Emerging – Organizations that reach this level seek to make their workplaces safe for people of all religious backgrounds (or none) and see the benefits of including religious diversity among other DEIB efforts. Level 3 organizations are content with their internal work and do not seek to push the external conversation further. This may result in a broad expression of religious “tolerance,” but it doesn’t necessarily create belonging—a concept organizations at this level still find elusive. This can translate to microaggressions between coworkers who may not share religious identities.
Level 4: Transformational – Organizations that reach the final level ensure that religiously diverse people aren’t just safe and included, but also belong at the workplace as religious people. For Level 4 organizations, religion is an integral part of their DEIB strategy and programming—including employee resource groups. Furthermore, organizations at this level advocate externally for religious freedom in society and the workplace. A compelling example of a Transformational organization is Chobani, the yogurt maker, which has time and again advocated for all their employees to be their full selves–inclusive of religious identity and refugee status. In the case of CEO Hamdi Ulukaya this has looked like speaking publicly about the importance of hiring and supporting religiously diverse employees, advocating for the rights of all workers inclusive of religious identities, and much more. The Corporate Religious Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (REDI) Index also provides insight into the companies that are most faith-friendly workplaces, many of which could be described as reaching Level 4, including American Airlines, an organization which utilizes ERGs, provides chaplain care, and makes accommodations available for religiously diverse employees, among many other efforts.
You might be tempted to jump in and use this model immediately to decide if your organization is doing a “good” or “bad” job at religious inclusion. You might even want to change everything at your workplace. While that energy is commendable, it’s best to slow down, take a deep breath, and reassure yourself that this isn’t black and white. This model is not meant to be one size fits all or to give any organization a stamp of approval. Instead, the Kaizen HC Model of Religious Inclusion is a living tool that works in concert with other frameworks, initiatives, and philosophies to help you chart the path ahead.
Most importantly, this framework can help you identify organizations at the level you’re reaching for, what work they’ve done around religious inclusion, what they’ve learned through the process, and how they moved from one level to another. In Embracing Workplace Religious Diversity and Inclusion, we explore several organizations and the specific scenarios they have faced, even rating them on the scale, so you can become fluent with the tool and its application.
Regardless of where your organization falls on this model, don’t panic or give up. Organizational cultures evolve and change—using this model, you can help shape your culture to become all the more inclusive of religiously diverse people.
Want to learn more about the Kaizen HC Model of Religious Inclusion and about the business, moral, and legal cases for inclusion? Pick up Embracing Workplace Religious Diversity and Inclusion, Dr. Ed Hasan’s in-depth exploration of the current state of workplace religious diversity and inclusion where the Kaizen HC Model of Religious Inclusion is first introduced.
Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce Vandergriff Award 2022
Honored to represent American Airlines and DFW Airport Chaplaincy when the coveted Vandergriff Award was presented
to American Airlines for it positive community impact in Texas as well as Globally through DFW International Airport
to American Airlines for it positive community impact in Texas as well as Globally through DFW International Airport
Decline in Religion A National Health ConcernDECLINE IN RELIGION A NATIONAL HEALTH CONCERN 17 Sep, 2022
By Brian Grim, Ph.D., and Melissa Grim, J.D. Study: Decline in religious affiliation in the U.S. is not only a concern for religious organizations but constitutes a national health concernA new projection by the Pew Research Center suggests that if recent trends in religious switching continue, Christians could make up less than half of the U.S. population within a few decades. Under one scenario that Pew models, the religiously unaffiliated population could be in the majority by 2070. While this is not good news for organized religion, the findings should concern all Americans because the decline in religious affiliation in the U.S. is not only a concern for religious organizations but constitutes a national health concern, based on our study of the connection between religion and health. The study, Belief, Behavior, and Belonging: How Faith is Indispensable in Preventing and Recovering from Substance Abuse, reviews the voluminous empirical evidence on faith’s contribution to preventing people from falling victim to substance abuse and helping them recover from it. We find that 73% of addiction treatment programs in the USA include a spirituality-based element, as embodied in the 12-step programs and fellowships initially popularized by Alcoholics Anonymous, the vast majority of which emphasize reliance on God or a Higher Power to stay sober. In the study, we introduce and flesh out a typology of faith-based substance abuse treatment facilities, recovery programs, and support groups. This typology provides important background as we then move on to make an economic valuation of nearly 130,000 congregation-based substance abuse recovery support programs in the USA. We find that these faith-based volunteer support groups contribute up to $316.6 billion in savings to the US economy every year at no cost to tax payers. While negative experiences with religion (e.g., clergy sex abuse and other horrendous examples) have been a contributory factor to substance abuse among some victims, given that more than 84% of scientific studies show that faith is a positive factor in addiction prevention or recovery and a risk in less than 2% of the studies reviewed, we conclude that the value of faith-oriented approaches to substance abuse prevention and recovery is indisputable. And, by extension, we also conclude that the decline in religious affiliation in the USA is not only a concern for religious organizations but constitutes a national health concern. |
Remembering Our Spiritual First Responders Modeling Our Faith At Work
https://aleteia.org/2019/09/11/priest-has-vivid-memories-of-ministering-at-ground-zero-on-9-11/
Msgr. Delendick says the hardest part was answering families
searching for their loved ones.Of all the memories Msgr. John Delendick has from September 11, 2001, perhaps none stands out as vividly as being handed the helmet of a fellow priest who was killed at the World Trade Center.
That priest, like Msgr. Delendick, was a New York Fire Department chaplain, Fr. Mychal Judge. The Franciscan friar was the first official casualty on 9/11, which occurred 18 years ago today.
“That day, I don’t even know the order of what all happened,” Msgr. Delendick told the Tablet, the newspaper of the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York. “Someone just handed me the helmet and told me he was killed, and they had him laid out in a wake at St. Peter’s Church on Barclay Street,” which is just blocks away from where the North Tower once stood.
On Sept. 11, 2001, a bright, crisp Tuesday morning in New York, with not a cloud in the sky, Msgr. Delendick had just finished celebrating Mass at St. Michael’s Church in the Sunset Park section of Brooklyn, where he was pastor. Hearing the news, he jumped in his car and drove as close as he could get to the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, but then, because of the emergency response from all over New York City, he was forced to walk the rest of the way to lower Manhattan.
The Tablet reported:
He remembers running into FDNY colleagues, including first deputy commissioner William Feehan, who was later killed in the collapse. He remembers giving absolution to a cop who ran to him amid a dark cloud of debris and smoke, asking for the sacrament of confession.
Msgr. Delendick, a longtime FDNY chaplain who’s now pastor of St. Jude Church, in Brooklyn’s Canarsie neighborhood, said that the hardest thing about that day “was people asking him if he had seen their friends, fathers, brothers and sons—firefighters and first-responders to the attacks—and not knowing how to respond,” the Tablet said. “It wasn’t until after returning from Ground Zero that Father Delendick and many families would realize that their friends and loved ones had died.”
The priest stayed on the scene, ministering where he could. He got back to his rectory at 2 o’clock the next morning, September 12. It could be said that that’s when his work was about to begin. In the coming months, he would visit Ground Zero often, accompanying families in their search for loved ones. As a fire department chaplain, he would also be called on to celebrate or at least be present for the funerals and memorial Masses of FDNY personnel found in the rubble. The department lost 343 firefighters who were trying to rescue office workers when the towers—first the south and then the north—collapsed.
“It’s just, you get so many of these funerals, and it just gets to you after a while … I love the job, but I also hate it,” Msgr. Delendick told the paper.
Others have died since then from illnesses thought to be directly related to the environmental hazards produced by the towers’ destruction. In a solemn ceremony earlier this month, the fire department added the names of 22 such firefighters and recovery workers to the FDNY World Trade Center Memorial Wall inside its Downtown Brooklyn headquarters.
Fr. Joseph Hoffman, pastor of St. Barbara parish in Brooklyn, who is also a fire department chaplain, said that working with the FDNY is “like serving another parish,” according to the Tablet. He said he is honored to work with the men and women who serve.
“I ask families to remember that death is never the end—that it is easier in the hands of God, who transforms death into life,” Fr. Hoffman said.
searching for their loved ones.Of all the memories Msgr. John Delendick has from September 11, 2001, perhaps none stands out as vividly as being handed the helmet of a fellow priest who was killed at the World Trade Center.
That priest, like Msgr. Delendick, was a New York Fire Department chaplain, Fr. Mychal Judge. The Franciscan friar was the first official casualty on 9/11, which occurred 18 years ago today.
“That day, I don’t even know the order of what all happened,” Msgr. Delendick told the Tablet, the newspaper of the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York. “Someone just handed me the helmet and told me he was killed, and they had him laid out in a wake at St. Peter’s Church on Barclay Street,” which is just blocks away from where the North Tower once stood.
On Sept. 11, 2001, a bright, crisp Tuesday morning in New York, with not a cloud in the sky, Msgr. Delendick had just finished celebrating Mass at St. Michael’s Church in the Sunset Park section of Brooklyn, where he was pastor. Hearing the news, he jumped in his car and drove as close as he could get to the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel, but then, because of the emergency response from all over New York City, he was forced to walk the rest of the way to lower Manhattan.
The Tablet reported:
He remembers running into FDNY colleagues, including first deputy commissioner William Feehan, who was later killed in the collapse. He remembers giving absolution to a cop who ran to him amid a dark cloud of debris and smoke, asking for the sacrament of confession.
Msgr. Delendick, a longtime FDNY chaplain who’s now pastor of St. Jude Church, in Brooklyn’s Canarsie neighborhood, said that the hardest thing about that day “was people asking him if he had seen their friends, fathers, brothers and sons—firefighters and first-responders to the attacks—and not knowing how to respond,” the Tablet said. “It wasn’t until after returning from Ground Zero that Father Delendick and many families would realize that their friends and loved ones had died.”
The priest stayed on the scene, ministering where he could. He got back to his rectory at 2 o’clock the next morning, September 12. It could be said that that’s when his work was about to begin. In the coming months, he would visit Ground Zero often, accompanying families in their search for loved ones. As a fire department chaplain, he would also be called on to celebrate or at least be present for the funerals and memorial Masses of FDNY personnel found in the rubble. The department lost 343 firefighters who were trying to rescue office workers when the towers—first the south and then the north—collapsed.
“It’s just, you get so many of these funerals, and it just gets to you after a while … I love the job, but I also hate it,” Msgr. Delendick told the paper.
Others have died since then from illnesses thought to be directly related to the environmental hazards produced by the towers’ destruction. In a solemn ceremony earlier this month, the fire department added the names of 22 such firefighters and recovery workers to the FDNY World Trade Center Memorial Wall inside its Downtown Brooklyn headquarters.
Fr. Joseph Hoffman, pastor of St. Barbara parish in Brooklyn, who is also a fire department chaplain, said that working with the FDNY is “like serving another parish,” according to the Tablet. He said he is honored to work with the men and women who serve.
“I ask families to remember that death is never the end—that it is easier in the hands of God, who transforms death into life,” Fr. Hoffman said.
Equinix Host the WeConnect conversation about Chaplaincy Ministry July 27th
American Airlines Takes Top Spot on First-Ever Corporate Religious Diversity Index Opt-in Survey23 May, 2022
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IMMEDIATE RELEASE | Washington DC: American Airlines is the most faith-friendly workplace among the Fortune 500, according to 2022 Corporate Religious Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (REDI) IndexAmerican Airlines is the most faith-friendly corporate workplace among the 500 largest companies in America, according to the 2022 Corporate Religious Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (REDI) Index.
The other top faith-and-belief friendly companies among the U.S Fortune 500 include the Intel Corporation, Dell Technologies, PayPal, and Texas Instruments, taking the second through fifth spots. Equinix, Target, Tyson Foods, AIG, and Alphabet/Google round out the top ten. Other top faith-and-belief friendly companies are American Express, the Ford Motor Company, and Intuit, tying for the eleventh spot in the latest edition of the annual REDI Index.
Among the U.S. Fortune 500, Ameriprise Financial Group, Cigna, Meta Platforms (Facebook), Securian Financial, CVS Health, Goldman Sachs, Aramark, Clorox, and Salesforce scored in the top 25 on the REDI Index.
Global Fortune 500 companies also opted in to the REDI Index survey this year, including SAP and Accenture, both making the Top Faith Friendly list, with Accenture scoring within the top 10 companies overall. Also, smaller companies including Italy-based TeaPak, a Yogi Tea partner, and Utah-based Qualtrics both opted in to the survey and scored highly on the REDI Index, showing that companies of all sizes are joining this workplace religious inclusion benchmarking initiative.
These companies will be honored at a gala dinner ceremony this evening in Washington DC at the Catholic University of America’s Busch School of Business, co-sponsoring with the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation, the 3rd annual National Faith@Work ERG Conference, Dare to Overcome.
This is the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation’s third annual benchmark assessment of corporate America’s inclusion of religion as an integral part of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. It is the most comprehensive report on the state of religious inclusion in U.S. and global corporations, and it provides specific information about religious DEI practices being implemented in companies today.
This year’s assessment breaks new ground in two ways. First, RFBF researchers carefully assessed all U.S. Fortune 500 corporate diversity websites. Previous years looked at the Fortune 100 and 200. Second, this year’s assessment included an opt-in survey in which corporations at the forefront of workplace religious inclusion shared best practices.
General Fortune 500 Findings:
• 202 companies (40%) mention, refer to or illustrate religion on their main diversity landing page
• 37 companies (7.4%) publicly report having faith-oriented ERGs
Key Survey Findings Among Top Faith-Friendly Fortune 500 Companies:
• Company-sponsored, employee-led, faith-oriented employee resource groups (ERGs) give religious employees an official voice in the company
• Companies with such ERGs commonly encourage and support ERG chapters worldwide
• These ERGs often lead strategic company & community allyship and service initiatives
• Companies enthusiastically share best faith@work practices with other companies (incl. competitors) through direct consultations, seminars, roundtables, and/or conferences
• Literacy training on religious DEI is seen as a benefit to a wide range of stakeholders, contributing to positive workplace cultures and a better understanding of customers & markets
• Companies commonly provide staff access to company chaplains or other forms of spiritual care
• Companies embracing religious DEI have clear procedures for requesting religious accommodations and for reporting instances of religious discrimination
• Companies often match employee donations to faith-based charities
DOWNLOAD FULL REPORT: Measuring the Fortune 500’s Commitment to Workplace Religious Inclusion
ABOUT THE REDI INDEX
The Corporate Religious Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (REDI) Index developed by the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation (RFBF) is a benchmarking measure of a company’s commitment to including religion as part of its overall diversity initiatives.
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American Airlines Receives 2022 REDIndex Award In Video Below
American Airlines Recognized as Top Faith Friendly Corporation
American Airlines Integrated Operations Center
American Airlines Named Top Faith-Friendly Workplace in the Nation
Due to Interfaith Ministry Programs Stacey Doud
American Airlines (AA), based out of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW), made history this month as the number one faith-friendly workplace among Fortune 500 companies in the nation. The airline clinched the top spot via the 2022 Corporate Religious Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (REDI) Index, and the AA Interfaith Family was honored at a gala at the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation’s (RFBF) 3rd annual Faith@Work ERG Conference in Washington D.C. on May 23 – 25.
This annual event focuses on Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and chaplains that are blazing trails within corporate America. The Conference brings these groups and employees together so they can interact and share strategies and Best Practices, with the goal of improving and expanding interfaith programs across the nation and the globe.
The REDI Index is designed to examine diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives among the top companies in America and has become the most thorough and comprehensive report about religious inclusion among U.S. and world corporation workplaces.
This is the first year that the RFBF has looked at Fortune 500 companies. The analysis for the inaugural year considered only Fortune 100 corporations, and the second annual index analyzed Fortune 200 businesses. In this third year, all corporate diversity policies and websites for those on the Fortune 500 list were examined.
Findings from the Index show that employees who are religious feel that they have an “official voice” at work via ERGs that are company-sponsored and are led by fellow employees. Having a place to practice religious rituals while at work often leads to higher job satisfaction and employee retention.
American Airlines allows employee-led faith gatherings, hosts interfaith events, encourages community outreach partnerships, and provides Prayer Rooms and ablution stations on its campus, as well as the use of Holy texts from all faith expressions in these spaces.
One of the trailblazers in this "faith in the workplace" movement at American Airlines is Anglican Priest Father Greg McBrayer. Father Greg has worked as a Chief Flight Controller at American’s Integrated Operations Control Center for over four decades. He has been leading the charge as a pioneer in the advancement of faith in the corporate world for more than 20 years. Father Greg was instrumental in getting prayer rooms and ablution stations into the plans for the new Headquarters Campus of American Airlines.
“You just cannot compartmentalize the things that are your core values, and if you’re a person of faith, that’s going to include your faith. That’s the core of everything I bring into my workday. As a Christian, I’m going to do the very best I can for God every day. And people in corporate America want that,” said McBrayer.
American also hosts quarterly events they call “Abraham’s Tent,” since Abraham is a central figure in the Holy texts of the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faiths. These meetings encourage employees from different religious beliefs to gather and discuss the differences and similarities of their faith traditions. These gatherings help foster understanding and bring down silos of misunderstanding for people of different faiths or those of no faith.
The airline also respects religious beliefs about things like the COVID-19 vaccines. While employee exemption applications were reviewed carefully, American never fired or laid-off workers who did not receive the vaccines due to religious beliefs.
American was represented at the Conference by Rev. McBrayer, Executive Leadership, DEI Leaders and Global Leads from numerous ERG faith groups at American Airlines.
“This recognition has been a labor of love for me personally. The work began many years ago following the tragic impact 911 had on my life and our industry. It was out of the ashes of that life-altering event that God redirected the flight plan for my life and ministry. I feel blessed to have been used by God to bring voice and visibility to the importance of being able to bring your whole self to work.
"I have to thank American Airlines for providing the support our faith-based EBRG (Employee Business Resource Groups) need to bring about healthy change. I thank the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation for hosting this annual conference, which now has the world’s largest corporations gathering together to learn from one another, but most of all I thank God.
"This movement is reshaping the landscape of corporate America and the entire world. I feel blessed to have been on the frontline and to have been part of it all,” McBrayer said about the honor.
Looking back on the unusual development of his career, McBrayer said, “The greatest reward I get is getting up every morning and getting to say, ‘you know what, God is going to use me today at American Airlines to do Kingdom work.”
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American Airlines Named Most Faith-Friendly Fortune 500 Company
May 23, 2022 By Kathryn Post Share Tweet Share
(RNS) — American Airlines isn’t a religious company, but if you wander around their corporate buildings you might stumble onto an ablution station for Muslim purification rituals, a Jewish employee group meeting or even Father Greg McBrayer, a collar-wearing Anglican priest who is both chaplain and chief flight dispatcher for the airline. Today, after decades of religious diversity efforts, American Airlines was recognized as the most faith-friendly Fortune 500 company in the U.S., topping a tech-dominated list that also included Intel, Dell and PayPal.
The 2022 Corporate Religious Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Index (REDI Index) measured the religious inclusion of the Fortune 500 companies and found that 40% highlight religion on their main diversity webpage, while 7.4% publicly share about their faith-based employee resources groups (ERGs). This year, American Airlines outpaced Intel and Texas Instruments, last year’s top scorers, thanks to its religious diversity trainings, established spiritual care programs and eagerness to share best practices with others, according to the report.
The REDI Index was initially launched by the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation (RFBF) in 2020 to spotlight religious diversity in corporate spaces. This week, the RFBF is hosting its annual Faith@Work Conference for Fortune 500 companies in Washington, D.C.
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Brian Grim, president of the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation, told RNS that corporate momentum around religious diversity is continuing to accelerate. “On average, I have a new company every week reaching out,” said Grim. He added that, while companies like American Airlines, Intel and Texas Instruments have been involved in religious diversity work for decades, corporations have only started publicly promoting these efforts in the last few years. Ford Motor Company, a sponsor at this year’s Faith@Work Conference, has had its interfaith network for more than 20 years, but this conference is the “first time they’ve ever shared what they’re doing outside the walls of their company,” according to Grim.
The REDI Index report highlighted other standout religious diversity initiatives, such as Cigna’s many religious celebrations (including Kwanza, the pagan festival Yule and the Zoroastrian festival Ghambar Maidyarem), Intel’s eight faith/belief-based employee resource groups (including ones for agnostics/atheists, Sikhs and Baha’is) and Tyson Foods’ 100 chaplains.
RELATED: Religious diversity: Corporate obstacle? Or asset?
This was the first year the REDI Index expanded to include Fortune 500 companies; previous iterations looked at the Fortune 100 and 200. The RFBF also incorporated an opt-in survey this year that allowed companies to elaborate on their achievements in 10 areas of religious inclusion and support, including the presence of chaplains, religious accommodations and whether they match employee donations to religious charities.
Companies were also encouraged to submit descriptions of initiatives not covered in these categories, such as American Airlines’ Abraham’s Tent events. These interfaith gatherings are regularly hosted by religious leaders who address a topic (“the afterlife,” for example) from their faith perspective. According to McBrayer, the longtime American Airlines chaplain, these events break down silos between faith groups and nurture a more collaborative work environment.
“You just cannot compartmentalize the things that are your core values,” McBrayer told RNS. “And if you’re a person of faith, that’s going to be your faith. That’s the core of everything I bring into my workday. As a Christian, I’m going to do the very best I can for God every day. And people in a business want that.”
RELATED: Intel leads tech-dominated list of religiously inclusive workplaces in 2021
Posted in
FaithNewsScience & Tech
(RNS) — American Airlines isn’t a religious company, but if you wander around their corporate buildings you might stumble onto an ablution station for Muslim purification rituals, a Jewish employee group meeting or even Father Greg McBrayer, a collar-wearing Anglican priest who is both chaplain and chief flight dispatcher for the airline. Today, after decades of religious diversity efforts, American Airlines was recognized as the most faith-friendly Fortune 500 company in the U.S., topping a tech-dominated list that also included Intel, Dell and PayPal.
The 2022 Corporate Religious Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Index (REDI Index) measured the religious inclusion of the Fortune 500 companies and found that 40% highlight religion on their main diversity webpage, while 7.4% publicly share about their faith-based employee resources groups (ERGs). This year, American Airlines outpaced Intel and Texas Instruments, last year’s top scorers, thanks to its religious diversity trainings, established spiritual care programs and eagerness to share best practices with others, according to the report.
The REDI Index was initially launched by the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation (RFBF) in 2020 to spotlight religious diversity in corporate spaces. This week, the RFBF is hosting its annual Faith@Work Conference for Fortune 500 companies in Washington, D.C.
Daily religion news, straight to your inbox. Subscribe today.Email Address
First Name
Last Name
Brian Grim, president of the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation, told RNS that corporate momentum around religious diversity is continuing to accelerate. “On average, I have a new company every week reaching out,” said Grim. He added that, while companies like American Airlines, Intel and Texas Instruments have been involved in religious diversity work for decades, corporations have only started publicly promoting these efforts in the last few years. Ford Motor Company, a sponsor at this year’s Faith@Work Conference, has had its interfaith network for more than 20 years, but this conference is the “first time they’ve ever shared what they’re doing outside the walls of their company,” according to Grim.
The REDI Index report highlighted other standout religious diversity initiatives, such as Cigna’s many religious celebrations (including Kwanza, the pagan festival Yule and the Zoroastrian festival Ghambar Maidyarem), Intel’s eight faith/belief-based employee resource groups (including ones for agnostics/atheists, Sikhs and Baha’is) and Tyson Foods’ 100 chaplains.
RELATED: Religious diversity: Corporate obstacle? Or asset?
This was the first year the REDI Index expanded to include Fortune 500 companies; previous iterations looked at the Fortune 100 and 200. The RFBF also incorporated an opt-in survey this year that allowed companies to elaborate on their achievements in 10 areas of religious inclusion and support, including the presence of chaplains, religious accommodations and whether they match employee donations to religious charities.
Companies were also encouraged to submit descriptions of initiatives not covered in these categories, such as American Airlines’ Abraham’s Tent events. These interfaith gatherings are regularly hosted by religious leaders who address a topic (“the afterlife,” for example) from their faith perspective. According to McBrayer, the longtime American Airlines chaplain, these events break down silos between faith groups and nurture a more collaborative work environment.
“You just cannot compartmentalize the things that are your core values,” McBrayer told RNS. “And if you’re a person of faith, that’s going to be your faith. That’s the core of everything I bring into my workday. As a Christian, I’m going to do the very best I can for God every day. And people in a business want that.”
RELATED: Intel leads tech-dominated list of religiously inclusive workplaces in 2021
Posted in
FaithNewsScience & Tech
American Airlines has just been named the most faith-friendly Fortune 500 company, edging out two tech companies for the top spot in 2022.
Most Faith-Friendly Large Company In America? American AirlinesThe Corporate Religious Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Index (REDI) was initially launched by the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation (RFBF) in 2020 to spotlight religious diversity in corporate spaces. It looks for mentions of religion on corporate diversity webpages and literature, the provision of chaplains, and the offering of faith-based employee resource groups.
Last year, Texas Instruments and Intel took the top two spots. This year, it was American Airlines. At American Airlines, you’ll find employee-led gatherings, specialized resources for counseling, and even practical items like an ablution station for Muslim employees at the company’s Fort Worth headquarters.
There’s also people at American Airlines like Greg McBrayer, whom I covered at in 2019. Not only is he the Chief Flight Controller for American Airlines, he’s also an Anglican priest. Speaking to RNS, McBrayer said:
“You just cannot compartmentalize the things that are your core values. And if you’re a person of faith, that’s going to be your faith. That’s the core of everything I bring into my workday. As a Christian, I’m going to do the very best I can for God every day. And people in a business want that.”
American Airlines’ hosts voluntary meetings it calls Abraham’s Tent. Abraham is a central figure in the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faith and these interfaith gatherings bring together employees from different faith traditions to discuss issues like afterlife, creation, or miracles.
What is not mentioned in any report but what I think merits mentioning is the manner in which American Airlines aggressively courted employees to seek religious exemptions when it came to COVID-19 vaccines. While United Airlines warned employees against suddenly “finding God” and closely scrutinized religious exemption applications, American Airlines welcomed them and never sidelined employees who chose to avoid the vaccine based upon religious conviction.
> Read More: “God Is Going Use Me Today At American Airlines To Do Kingdom Work”
CONCLUSION Texas-based American Airlines has been named the most faith-friendly Fortune 500 company in 2022. In providing multiple opportunities for those of faith (and those who lack faith) to come together, American Airlines hopes to create a more cohesive work environment that promotes respect and understanding.
Click the Links below for Matthews complete article, and other related works.
Most Faith-Friendly Large Company In America? American AirlinesThe Corporate Religious Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Index (REDI) was initially launched by the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation (RFBF) in 2020 to spotlight religious diversity in corporate spaces. It looks for mentions of religion on corporate diversity webpages and literature, the provision of chaplains, and the offering of faith-based employee resource groups.
Last year, Texas Instruments and Intel took the top two spots. This year, it was American Airlines. At American Airlines, you’ll find employee-led gatherings, specialized resources for counseling, and even practical items like an ablution station for Muslim employees at the company’s Fort Worth headquarters.
There’s also people at American Airlines like Greg McBrayer, whom I covered at in 2019. Not only is he the Chief Flight Controller for American Airlines, he’s also an Anglican priest. Speaking to RNS, McBrayer said:
“You just cannot compartmentalize the things that are your core values. And if you’re a person of faith, that’s going to be your faith. That’s the core of everything I bring into my workday. As a Christian, I’m going to do the very best I can for God every day. And people in a business want that.”
American Airlines’ hosts voluntary meetings it calls Abraham’s Tent. Abraham is a central figure in the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faith and these interfaith gatherings bring together employees from different faith traditions to discuss issues like afterlife, creation, or miracles.
What is not mentioned in any report but what I think merits mentioning is the manner in which American Airlines aggressively courted employees to seek religious exemptions when it came to COVID-19 vaccines. While United Airlines warned employees against suddenly “finding God” and closely scrutinized religious exemption applications, American Airlines welcomed them and never sidelined employees who chose to avoid the vaccine based upon religious conviction.
> Read More: “God Is Going Use Me Today At American Airlines To Do Kingdom Work”
CONCLUSION Texas-based American Airlines has been named the most faith-friendly Fortune 500 company in 2022. In providing multiple opportunities for those of faith (and those who lack faith) to come together, American Airlines hopes to create a more cohesive work environment that promotes respect and understanding.
Click the Links below for Matthews complete article, and other related works.
https://religionnews.com/2022/05/23/american-airlines-dubbed-most-faith-friendly-fortune-500-company/?fbclid=IwAR2Ou-AuyY16sZNfS-CD24ObroaMDD_KK765tpqN9yR2PzmIaKCVCQO5xKY
https://liveandletsfly.com/american-airlines-faith-friendly/
https://liveandletsfly.com/american-airlines-faith-friendly/
Register to attend the National Faith at Work Conference Today
Faith and Business Talk at the BYU Business Society Spring Luncheon April 21st
Some US companies are embracing religious diversity as good for people and for business.
Religious diversity: Corporate obstacle? Or asset?
April 1, 2022
By Kathryn Post
For decades, there has been an unspoken ban on religious discussion in the workplace. And no wonder: Deeply held beliefs, not to mention religious dress or practices, can become a powder keg in corporate lunchrooms no less than at family gatherings.
But thanks to the nation’s expanding religious diversity and the recent surge in workplace diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, the business world’s unofficial taboo on religion might be waning. A growing contingent of businesses have begun talking about religion as an asset, rather than a divider.
Eboo Patel, founder of Interfaith Youth Core, said that in the last three years he’s seen an exponential increase in the number of companies coming to IFYC to consult on religious diversity. Since 2019, “one phone call a year became 12, 15, 20 requests a year,” said Patel. “Walmart, Alliance Bernstein, Edelman, Starbucks … A whole set of places, from banks to PR firms to retail, reached out to us and asked us to engage on religious diversity questions.”
Brian Grim, president of the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation, told Religion News Service that “every week” he hears from a new Fortune 100 company asking how to approach religious diversity in the workplace. “There’s been a massive change in the past three to five years in some of the world’s biggest and best companies towards embracing religion as part of their overall diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives,” said Grim.
Some recognition of religious diversity is as simple as serving kosher or halal food in the company cafeteria or offering floating holidays, so days off don’t revolve exclusively around the Christian liturgical calendar. For years, companies have offered faith-based employee resource groups, or ERGs, that allow workers to organize around their religious identities.
But some companies are going further, sponsoring religious literacy trainings and hiring interfaith chaplains for in-office counseling or spiritual support.
The companies’ motivations aren’t solely benevolent: There’s a business case for religious diversity that’s connected to overall diversity efforts and to what employees want out of their workplaces.
“Markets and market potentials are driven not only by what marketers try to get people to buy, but by these cultural and religious factors and values,” Grim said. “So businesses realize that to work in tomorrow’s marketplace, understanding religion is really important.”
Paying attention to employees’ religious practices can allow them to feel more valued, develop better working relationships and ultimately to be more productive, Grim added. This can be an edge in a globalizing workforce: While institutional religion is declining in the U.S., a 2015 study from Pew Research Center projected that globally, the world’s religious populations are on the rise.
Younger American generations continue to become more religiously diverse; they’ll expect employers to accommodate religious differences. According to a 2020 study from the Public Religion Research Institute, the median ages of white Protestants, white Catholics and Black Protestants in the U.S. are all in the 50s. In contrast, the median ages of unaffiliated people, Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims are in the 30s.
Patel observed that religious awareness can also appeal to clients. “If you’re a Starbucks in Dearborn, Michigan, where there’s a significant Muslim population, why wouldn’t you open at 4 a.m. during Ramadan?” asked Patel, who notes that many Muslims rely on IHOP for their pre-dawn breakfast during the month of fasting.
“Why wouldn’t you be the place where Muslims are going for their final cup of coffee before the day of fasting begins?” he asked.
Some companies have been promoting religious diversity for decades. Intel started its Christian employee resource group in 1995; Texas Instruments followed in 2000. But Grim said even companies that embraced ERGs early are renewing their emphasis. Craig Carter, who heads an alliance of faith- and belief-based ERGs at Intel, told RNS that the company has continued to add such ERGs, including atheist/agnostic and Baha’i groups, and last year added one for Hindus.
The ERGs are increasingly not there to please employees alone. Google’s Inter Belief Network, an ERG launched in 2017, plays a role in adapting Google’s products for religious audiences, including “Doodles” (Google’s alterations to its homepage logo) for Christmas, Hanukkah and even the Taoist/Buddhist Ghost Festival. The Buddhist chapter helped improve the translation of Tibetan religious texts for Google Translate.
Siraj Akhtar, a Texas Instruments employee since 2000, told RNS via email that the company’s conscious hospitality toward Muslims and other religious groups leads employees to invest in the company long-term. “For Muslim employees the idea that you don’t have to hide your faith or your practices, but can openly display them, is very appealing,” said Akhtar.
He pointed to the serenity rooms that are found in all of Texas Instruments’ major buildings. “Having a place where you can perform these (daily prayers) right where you work is something that sets TI apart and has been a huge influence for many who have joined the company.”
Chaplains are another way to weave religion into the corporate sphere. Greg McBrayer, an Anglican priest, is both American Airlines’ chief flight dispatcher and a company chaplain. “I’m not there to proselytize or convert people, I’m there to support them in moments of need,” he said. McBrayer sees himself as a “spiritual first responder” who can bring the “ministry of presence” to any difficult situation, regardless of the spiritual perspective of those involved.
At Tyson Foods in Arkansas, Chaplain Kevin Scherer oversees Tyson’s roughly 100 chaplains, including a Muslim as well as chaplains from most Christian denominations, who serve team members from more than 80 countries.
“Good chaplaincy doesn’t operate from the starting place of the chaplain’s religious faith orientation, but by being present and asking good questions to understand the religious diversity of the team member they’re taking care of,” he said. All of Tyson’s chaplains are equipped to minister in a pluralistic setting, he added, including to people who are not religious.
RELATED: Are today’s seminarians tomorrow’s corporate leaders?
Despite recent leaps in the accommodation of faith, religious diversity efforts lag far behind other kinds of diversity measures. “It’s not even close to where race, gender and sexuality are,” said Patel. “But it’s grown. If race, gender and sexuality were at a 5, and now is at a 9, religion work was at a 1, and now is at a 2.5.”
Leaders’ fear of exacerbating workplace divisions still casts a shadow, experts said. Some are also concerned that, done poorly, religious diversity initiatives can tokenize members of different belief groups without changing workplace culture.
Carolyn Chen, author of the new book “Work Pray Code,” said faith-based ERGs can provide important spaces for religious minorities in what is often an unnamed but normative white, Christian culture. “Yet when you provide these spaces, it can be like, you check the box and you’re done. It can be a way of dealing with diversity, giving people a space without changing the status quo,” Chen said.
Carter said he is frequently asked whether formalizing different religious groups at Intel causes problems. “Having or not having a formal faith ERG does not stop or start a person from having their personal beliefs,” Carter said in an email. “They will always be there. Recognizing they are there helps the employee feel included, valued personally, and that they can be real at work.”
For those wary of religious diversity, Patel says it’s better to address it head-on. “Religion is divisive, and I imagine there are a number of C-suite-level people who are not going to touch it,” he said. But these days the alternative to a proactive program, he said, is likely to “let conflict or bias land on your desk.”
National Medal of Honor Museum Unveiling Special Event at American Airlines
What an honor to be part of this special event at the unveiling of Flagship Valor with 14 Medal of Honor recipients and hundreds of special guests at Hangar 5. This historic event was part of the groundbreaking ceremony of the National Medal of Honor Museum being built in Arlington, Texas. WELL DONE American Airlines! A very special thanks to Randy Stillinger, the American Airlines Honor Team, DFW Airport Chaplaincy and all Volunteers. God bless you all!
Registration is open for the RFBF National Faith@Work ERG Conference 2022
American Airlines sends 63 WWII Veterans to Peral Harbor for 80th Anniversary
I was truly blessed to provide the departure benediction and be part of this historic anniversary event
American Airlines Names Christian Employees Resource Group - EBRG of the Year
An American Hero Comes Home - Army Chaplain Fr. Emil Kapaun - Medal of Honor - Venerated Saint
A Moving Video of an American Hero Coming Home to Sainthood
Today was one of the most memorable days in a long career and ministry, as our American Airlines Honor Team, many Priest, Bishops, friends and family, gathered to provide what we call a Dignified Transfer in honor of an American Hero, Army Chaplain Fr. Emil Kapaun. Father Kapaun died over 70 years ago in a Korean Prisoner of War Camp while faithfully serving his men till the end of his life.
Father Kapaun received the Medal of Honor and is in process to be venerated a Saint in the Roman Catholic Church. His remains were recently identified and arrived at DFW Intl. Airport this morning from Hawaii to transition to his Kansas home. Pictured is the water cannon salute of call sign flight, Shepherd II, arriving in the same Boeing 777 that we flew Pope Francis in as Shepherd I in 2015.
his very moving event takes on a whole different meaning if you will take the time to view the video links below which tells Fr. Kapaun's remarkable story. Special thanks to Randy Stillinger, American Airlines and all who made this very special day possible.
God bless you all, and may God bless America!
Fr. Greg McBrayer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=JxopaDbjGEQ
Father Kapaun received the Medal of Honor and is in process to be venerated a Saint in the Roman Catholic Church. His remains were recently identified and arrived at DFW Intl. Airport this morning from Hawaii to transition to his Kansas home. Pictured is the water cannon salute of call sign flight, Shepherd II, arriving in the same Boeing 777 that we flew Pope Francis in as Shepherd I in 2015.
his very moving event takes on a whole different meaning if you will take the time to view the video links below which tells Fr. Kapaun's remarkable story. Special thanks to Randy Stillinger, American Airlines and all who made this very special day possible.
God bless you all, and may God bless America!
Fr. Greg McBrayer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=JxopaDbjGEQ
911 A Day Like No Other; Ministry Redefended!
The Birth of Corporate Chaplaincy at American Airlines
Click to attend the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation 911 Event Special ZOOM Event 9-9-21
The growing future of Faith at Work in our world today!
Senator James Lankford & Senator Chris Coons Discuss Religious Freedom and Business with Dr. Brian Grim
Senator James Lankford & Senator Chris Coons Discuss Religious Freedom and Business with Dr. Brian Grim
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The Case for Faith's Impact on the Bottom Line In Business
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Click Photo to learn more about the 2022 RFBF REDI Index
American Airlines Christian EBRG (Employee Business Resource Group)
recognized by the Religious Freedom and Business Foundations 2021
REDI Index as the second most faith inclusive of fortune 100 company's.
Christian EBRG Global Leads and DEI team receive REDI Index award 2021
Airports Step Up Mental Health Assistance as Passenger Anxiety Soars
ATL & DFW Airport Chaplaincy Directors talk about impact on travelers.
Click the link below!
Chaplaincy at Work: the "Final Frontier" of Missions
Congressional and Corporate Chaplains: First Reaponders to America's Crises
Annual North Texas Field of Honor Event for our Military and First Responders
Fr. Greg and the American Airlines Honor Team - Honoring a US Army Medal of
Honor Recipient Ron Rosser transitioning through DFW to his final resting place
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Bringing the Priesthood into Corporate America - July Article: The Chapter
https://nashotahchapter.com/nashotaharticles/erywdp6vfy8topuo3a9222qm65ljke
https://nashotahchapter.com/nashotaharticles/erywdp6vfy8topuo3a9222qm65ljke
DFW Rambler Article - Ministry Guides Airline During Covid-19 Crisis
Ministering in a Pandemic at American Airlines
The Employee Business Resource Groups (EBRGs) are an important part of the culture at American. Team members with similar interests collaborate to create positive change within American and their communities.
During the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, EBRGs have gone above and beyond to offer resources to those in need. For instance, Generation Now is holding a virtual trivia fundraiser to support the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). The participants answer trivia questions and for every correct answer, they’ll donate grains of rice to the WFP. The initiative will run through April 24.
Winston Lam, Senior Specialist in Inclusion and Diversity says the impact is being felt across American. “We have 170 EBRG chapters throughout the system at 19 domestic stations and 11 international stations. Some events are specific to our hubs, like DFW and PHL, but many like the fasting fundraiser and virtual Do Crew have been designed so team members everywhere can participate.”
Members of the Muslim EBRG are skipping their lunch and donating it to the American Airlines Family Fund so team members experiencing hardships have food for themselves or their families. Visit Jetnet and search for the American Airlines Giving Portal to follow their lead and support this initiative. Those donating are asked to type in “fasting fundraiser” in the notes section when they donate.
Along with monetary donations, the EBRGs are offering spiritual support. The IOC is hosting a Monday Morning Prayer Convocation every week sponsored by the Christian EBRG. Named and anonymous prayers are welcome. Father Greg McBrayer is also available for counseling and spiritual guidance around the system.
The Professional Women in Aviation (PWA) EBRG in PHL partners with MANNA, an organization that provides nutrition to aid patients who are fighting serious illnesses. They are looking for volunteers who are willing to spend three hours a week writing notes of encouragement for sick patients. The PWA is also trying to leverage unused amenity kits to support students who are a part of City Year, a non-profit organization focused on educational equity.
If you are looking for ways to give back, be sure to regularly check the events calendar to see where and when volunteer opportunities are taking place. Now more than ever, EBRGs are proactively finding ways to make a positive impact on team members and their communities. The effect of their work will be felt by all involved for many years to come.
During the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, EBRGs have gone above and beyond to offer resources to those in need. For instance, Generation Now is holding a virtual trivia fundraiser to support the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). The participants answer trivia questions and for every correct answer, they’ll donate grains of rice to the WFP. The initiative will run through April 24.
Winston Lam, Senior Specialist in Inclusion and Diversity says the impact is being felt across American. “We have 170 EBRG chapters throughout the system at 19 domestic stations and 11 international stations. Some events are specific to our hubs, like DFW and PHL, but many like the fasting fundraiser and virtual Do Crew have been designed so team members everywhere can participate.”
Members of the Muslim EBRG are skipping their lunch and donating it to the American Airlines Family Fund so team members experiencing hardships have food for themselves or their families. Visit Jetnet and search for the American Airlines Giving Portal to follow their lead and support this initiative. Those donating are asked to type in “fasting fundraiser” in the notes section when they donate.
Along with monetary donations, the EBRGs are offering spiritual support. The IOC is hosting a Monday Morning Prayer Convocation every week sponsored by the Christian EBRG. Named and anonymous prayers are welcome. Father Greg McBrayer is also available for counseling and spiritual guidance around the system.
The Professional Women in Aviation (PWA) EBRG in PHL partners with MANNA, an organization that provides nutrition to aid patients who are fighting serious illnesses. They are looking for volunteers who are willing to spend three hours a week writing notes of encouragement for sick patients. The PWA is also trying to leverage unused amenity kits to support students who are a part of City Year, a non-profit organization focused on educational equity.
If you are looking for ways to give back, be sure to regularly check the events calendar to see where and when volunteer opportunities are taking place. Now more than ever, EBRGs are proactively finding ways to make a positive impact on team members and their communities. The effect of their work will be felt by all involved for many years to come.
Interviewed by the RFBF President on the differences between 9/11 and COVID-19
Ministry Redefined: Ministering at American Airlines through a Global Pandemic
Our Easter Prayer Cross has been filled twice as start this unique Holy Week
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Click on the link below for a recent article published by ramblernewspaper
https://ramblernewspapers.com/2020/03/national-conference-emphasizes-faith-in-the-workplace/
Click on the link below for latest article on inaugural Faith@Work conference
10 Surprising Mental Health Statistics From 2020
By Morgan Solomon-Maynard on November 5, 2020Mental health and substance use challenges look different for each person affected. No challenge or diagnosis is exactly the same, and some mental health challenges can be difficult to recognize. It can be easy to generalize or make assumptions, but realities vary, and these challenges can impact more than you may think.
Studies show that mental health in the United States is worsening among all age groups. While this is because of a number of factors, one fact stands out: Many people are not receiving the treatment they deserve. Stigma around mental health and lack of access to care are driving many people away from getting the care they need.
Over the years, a great deal of work has started to reduce the stigma of mental health and there’s been progress in making these conversations feel “normal.” Today, as COVID-19 has impacted all of us in different ways, discussions around mental health are becoming increasingly common, and more people are reaching out for help.
Check out these statistics to better understand what mental health and substance use challenges look like in 2020:
You can help. Get trained in Mental Health First Aid today. As a trained First Aider, you will be able to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illnesses and substance use disorders in your community.
You can #BeTheDifference.
By Morgan Solomon-Maynard on November 5, 2020Mental health and substance use challenges look different for each person affected. No challenge or diagnosis is exactly the same, and some mental health challenges can be difficult to recognize. It can be easy to generalize or make assumptions, but realities vary, and these challenges can impact more than you may think.
Studies show that mental health in the United States is worsening among all age groups. While this is because of a number of factors, one fact stands out: Many people are not receiving the treatment they deserve. Stigma around mental health and lack of access to care are driving many people away from getting the care they need.
Over the years, a great deal of work has started to reduce the stigma of mental health and there’s been progress in making these conversations feel “normal.” Today, as COVID-19 has impacted all of us in different ways, discussions around mental health are becoming increasingly common, and more people are reaching out for help.
Check out these statistics to better understand what mental health and substance use challenges look like in 2020:
- In late June, 40% of U.S. adults reported struggling with mental health or substance use.
- One in six U.S. youth aged 6-17 experience a mental health disorder each year.
- Half of all lifetime mental illness begins by age 14, and 75% by age 24.
- Depression alone costs the nation about $210.5 billion annually.
- The average delay between onset of mental illness symptoms and treatment is 11 years.
- Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among people aged 10-34 in the U.S. and the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S.
- Many people suffer from more than one mental disorder at a given time. In particular, depressive illnesses tend to co-occur with substance abuse and anxiety disorders.
- More than 70% of youth in the juvenile justice system have a diagnosed mental illness.
- Transgender adults are nearly 12 times more likely to attempt suicide than the general population.
- The most common mental illnesses in the U.S. are anxiety disorders, which affect 40 million adults (18.1% of the population).
You can help. Get trained in Mental Health First Aid today. As a trained First Aider, you will be able to identify, understand and respond to signs of mental illnesses and substance use disorders in your community.
You can #BeTheDifference.
The Religious Freedom & Business Foundation and The Catholic University of America are hosting first ever national conference of faith oriented Employee Resource Groups Feb. 13-14, Washington DC.
Follow The Religious Freedom & Business Foundation at https://religiousfreedomandbusiness.org/
American Airlines Works to Keep Passengers SafeDFW Airport — Most people who travel by air simply get on a plane, read a book, have a drink and trust the plane will land safely. But there a great deal involved behind the scenes that passengers rarely see. Reverend Greg McBrayer, a chief flight dispatcher with American Airlines (AA), a chaplain and the…
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DFW Airport Chaplaincy recognizes major supporters with Ministry of Presence awardsThe DFW Interfaith Chaplains held their annual Ministry of Presence Awards in the Hyatt Regency DFW Airport on December 13. These awards recognize the men and women who have gone above and beyond to keep the Chaplaincy open and available to DFW Airport travelers who may need spiritual comfort.
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Power of Prayer: DFW International Airport Interfaith Chaplaincy
Power of Prayer: DFW International Airport Interfaith Chaplaincy
DALLAS-FORT WORTH, Texas (KLTV) - At the start of the holiday travel season, countless East Texans will be among the passengers navigating crowds at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Despite the airport being one of the busiest places on Earth, people are finding their faith inside one of the five DFW Airport interfaith chapels.
Ministry Redefined - The Apostle Magazine
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