Our Interfaith Chaplains come from many different religious traditions including Protestant Christian, Orthodox Christian, Roman Catholic, Jewish, Buddhist and others. Since some religious groups do not have ordained clergy - such as The Society of Friends - all of our chaplains are not ordained in the usual sense of the word. We may also have female Roman Catholic chaplains who cannot be ordained but who are serving in religious leadership roles.

Every chaplain comes from a faith tradition wherein he or she has taken on a leadership role and from which the spiritual foundation of that person is formed. All chaplains are required to take part in specific orientation and training unique to the work of Interfaith urgent chaplaincy.

There are two coordinating chaplains in our program. Both of them are ordained priests in the Episcopal Church and both have had extensive training and experience in field chaplaincy work.

THE REV. BETSEE PARKER

Chaplain Parker graduated from Wellesley College and Harvard Divinity School. She studied ancient near eastern languages and has a deep knowledge of ancient faith traditions especially the Hebrew Bible and Rabbinic Judaism and the Babylonian Talmud. She spend two seasons as an Archaeology Area Supervisor in the City of David Excavations project in Jerusalem in Israel. She served in Episcopal parishes in North Carolina, England and her own diocese, Virginia, as well as developing new ministries in Kenya. During her time in the Diocese of Virginia, she was appointed by the Bishops as a "Church Planter" helping to found and build new parishes. Currently she lives with her husband in New York. They have been instrumental in raising support and providing funding for many non-profit organizations including the funding of the building of the first synagogue in Loudon County Virginia. At the time of September 11, 2001, Betsee arrived at "Ground Zero" as a field chaplain and soon came up to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner where she has been serving full time from then until now as Head Chaplain.

THE REV. CHARLES FLOOD

Chaplain Flood attended Wayne State University in Detroit Michigan majoring in Art History of the Italian Renaissance and completed his studies in Education and Fine Arts. He studied Ethics and Philosophy at the New School for Social Research Graduate School in New York. He taught religious studies in private secondary school and pioneered courses in Ethics and in Death and Dying at the high school level. He was ordained in the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia) and worked in the chaplaincy departments of the University of Pennsylvania and directed the Graduate Hospital Spiritual Care Program in Philadelphia. He was full time director of the second hospital based Hospice program in the U.S. at Albert Einstein Medical Center for eight years and helped write the first clinical protocols for Hospice care as a therapeutic discipline in the acute care hospital. He also initiated a program for compassionate care and intervention for family members facing the sudden death of a relative in the acute care center and his work in this area became the clinical model for similar programs throughout the country. He taught in the Graduate Religious Studies Program at LaSalle University in Philadelphia creating original course materials revolving around the theme of Pastoral Care at the Time of Sudden Death. He also worked as a member of the National Red Cross Disaster Team and with the U.S. Department of State as civilian liaison officer serving in the resettlement of Vietnamese and Cambodian Refugees. His Refugee Higher Education Program placed hundreds of Indochinese refugees in colleges and universities throughout the country. Currently, he is Rector of St. Stephen's Church in Center City Philadelphia. Charles worked at ground zero in the early days of the tragedy and soon joined Chaplain Parker at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. He wrote and conducts the weekly Memorial Service. Currently he is administering the Chaplaincy Program with Chaplain Parker and is writing a clinical monograph modeling the place of disaster interfaith chaplaincy in the Medical Examiner Office setting as well as other work for publication.