Morgan-Clement envisions chaplaincy promoting an inclusive community

The Rev. Linda Morgan-Clement has worked in ministry for several years, including as the chaplain at a college, and now wants to bring that experience to the University of Richmond as its next chaplain.

Morgan-Clement, 50, has a past filled with inclusion and exclusion, as she told roughly 60 people at a forum on July 9. She was born in Hong Kong and abandoned by her parents at birth. Her adopted parents, a Presbyterian minister and his wife, brought Morgan-Clement to the Midwest into a family of ministers when she was 18 months old.

Morgan-Clement's younger sister was born soon after she was brought to the United States, followed by three brothers and an adopted sister. She and her husband, Mike, have two daughters, one who recently graduated from college and another who just started. She said her past and family life have been tremendous influences on her and her ministry.

After 13 years of serving at the College of Wooster in Ohio as the chaplain and director of interfaith campus ministry, Morgan-Clement said she was ready to become a part of the Richmond Promise. She said she was drawn to Richmond because of the Strategic Plan and if she were chosen as chaplain, she would work to make the chaplaincy an interactive part of the promise.

She told listeners at the forum that every person involved with the university, whether they be students, parents, alumni, faculty, staff or friends, had given their whole selves to the promise and that the promise could not happen without them.

As chaplain at Wooster, Morgan-Clement helped to build and then maintain the Chaplaincy by working with student groups, helping with programming, giving pastoral care and crisis management and serving on presidential staff groups.

Morgan-Clement said that if she were chosen as the next chaplain at Richmond starting in fall 2009, she would work to move the chaplaincy out of the Wilton Center to "invade all spaces on campus." She said she would like to develop new positions within the chaplaincy, make it more visible and accessible and interact with other programs on campus such as Common Ground, Women Involved in Living and Learning and the Center for Civic Engagement. The goal of these changes would be to bring different spiritual perspectives together in different areas of the university community, she said, not just the chaplaincy.

She stressed that she did not want to make the chaplaincy program-heavy, but rather make it a place that offered different kinds of expertise, whatever that would require.

Acting Chaplain Kate O'Dwyer Randall would be a part of Morgan-Clement's staff if she chose, Morgan-Clement said. She said she was respectful of the work O'Dwyer Randall and the chaplaincy staff had done and she wanted O'Dwyer Randall to keep offering pastoral care. It's unclear what O'Dwyer Randall's role will be next year.

Morgan-Clement was adamant that the university should be a place of inclusion and open space and be a community of dialogue. She cited the occurrence of some students and faculty members coming to her and asking what they could do after they were disturbed to find out that the president of Planned Parenthood was coming to speak at Wooster. She said she worked it out so that they could be present and have their space so that everyone could be included and their voice heard.

"If we're going to be an inclusive community, we can't only be inclusive of some groups," she said. "That's sort of oxymoronic, and I don't want to be moronic."

A former student at Wooster, Kristin Stroble, said Morgan-Clement "was appreciated for her loving, caring nature ... of all people of all religions."

Stroble said students looked at Morgan-Clement as compassionate and as a confidant whom they could ask questions, regardless of their faith. Morgan-Clement helped Stroble and other students start a group for progressive Protestants called En Rout. Stroble graduated from Wooster in spring 2007.

One of Morgan-Clement's colleagues, Lisa Kastor, director of career services at Wooster, said that Morgan-Clement sought student input to know where they were coming from and how to meet their needs. She said Morgan-Clement had the ability to diffuse anger and possible controversies by asking the right questions.

"She is one of the best community builders I've met in higher ed," Kastor said.

Kastor and Morgan-Clement worked on several programs together during the past 13 years, including a presentation they did together about how adoption shapes people. Kastor has two adopted children.

Another issue Morgan-Clement was passionate about was getting the university community, including students, faculty and staff, to stop and think about the "why" of things. She said she would like to have a day where she challenged faculty and staff to fast from their Blackberrys and then have a discussion about how to clear space for things such as faith, rather than try to make it something to fit into an already busy day.

"We don't have to do it all, all the time," she said.

Morgan-Clement was a Presbyterian minister for several years in Wisconsin and New York before she went to Wooster. She earned her Master's of Divinity in Chicago at McCormick Theological Seminary and her Doctorate of Ministry from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.

At Wooster, Morgan-Clement worked with nine campus ministries, compared to the 13 at Richmond, including Christian, Jewish, Catholic and Muslim groups. She said she loved preaching and would like to continue that at Richmond if possible, as well as continue teaching. She taught two classes at Wooster -- Feminist Theology and Interfaith Dialogue.

Morgan-Clement was also instrumental in getting the Lilly project on Theological Reflection on Vocation to Wooster. The program gave students a chance to explore their interests, whether or not those interests were tied to their majors. The students were given $4,000 during the summer and told to travel the United States, doing something that interested them. Morgan-Clement gave an example of a student who was a physics major who decided to study dance and choreography, although he chose physics in the end.

Morgan-Clement said she loved to read novels, if she has time, as well as theology. She said she looked forward to learning to kayak the James River and loves whitewater rafting and shopping. She is also learning to run, but said she isn't sure if it's any fun yet.

The one thing she said was a drawback in coming to Richmond was that she would be farther away from her youngest daughter, but that she was drawn to Richmond because of the people.

Contact staff writer Stephanie Rice at stephanie.rice@richmond.edu