Director-Spiritual Care, Mercy St. Louis

Find your calling at Mercy!

The Director of Spiritual Care provides leadership for local Spiritual Care ministries, ensuring the integration of spiritual care throughout the human experience of illness and healing for patients, families, caregivers, coworkers, and communities. This leader develops chaplains, advances excellence in clinical Spiritual Care practice, collaborates with interdisciplinary leaders, and supports Mercy's healing ministry through whole-person care. The Director partners with Mission Integration, Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE), Ethics, Community Health, and ministry leadership to address local needs while advancing ministry-wide priorities.

Essential Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership

• Leads implementation of local and ministry-wide Spiritual Care priorities.
• Identifies opportunities for innovation, quality improvement, research, and growth.
• Participates in ministry-wide initiatives, committees, and workgroups.

Team Leadership

• Recruits, develops, mentors, evaluates, and supports chaplains.
• Maintains staffing, budget, schedules, and operational resources.
• Promotes a culture of professional excellence, collaboration, accountability, and continuous learning.
• Addresses personnel matters in collaboration with Human Resources.

Volunteer Ministry Leadership

• Oversees recruitment, onboarding, engagement, development, recognition, and retention of Spiritual Care volunteers.
• Ensures volunteers are appropriately trained, supported, and integrated into the ministry of Spiritual Care.
• Establishes quality and compliance expectations for volunteer activities and experiences.
• Partners with volunteer coordinators, local leaders, and chaplains to maximize volunteer contributions to Mercy's healing ministry.

Clinical Integration

• Promotes excellence in Spiritual Care practice, documentation, and quality improvement.
• Collaborates with clinical leaders and care teams to integrate spiritual care into whole-person care.
• Establishes local standards related to chaplaincy practice, documentation, and EMR utilization.

CPE Collaboration

• Collaborates with CPE faculty and ministry leadership to support student learning experiences.
• Ensures local clinical environments support educational goals and accreditation requirements.
• Partners with CPE faculty in developing future chaplains and Spiritual Care leaders.

Ministry Collaboration

• Partners with Mission Integration, Ethics, Community Health, Virtual Spiritual Care, and ministry leadership to advance whole-person care.
• Supports implementation of ministry-wide Spiritual Care initiatives and emerging models of care.

Mission and Professional Accountability

• Serves as a visible leader of Mercy's mission, values, and Catholic identity.
• Integrates the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services into leadership and practice.
• Maintains board certification and ecclesial endorsement as required.

Position Details:

Minimum Qualifications

Education

• Master's degree in Theology, Divinity, Ministry, Health Administration, or related field.
• Four units of Association of Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE), Clinical Pastoral Education, Inc. (CPEi), or College of Pastoral Supervision and Psychotherapy (CPSP) Clinical Pastoral Education.

Certification

• Board Certified Chaplain through one of the following certifying bodies:
• Association of Professional Chaplains (APC)/Board of Chaplaincy Certification Inc. (BCCI)
• National Association of Veteran Affairs Chaplains (NAVAC)
• National Association of Catholic Chaplains (NACC)
• Neshama: Association of Jewish Chaplains (NAJC)

Experience

• Three years of chaplaincy experience.
• Two years of healthcare leadership experience.

Preferred Qualifications

• Doctoral degree in Theology, Divinity, Ministry, Health Administration, or related field.
• Five or more years of healthcare leadership experience.
• Experience collaborating with Clinical Pastoral Education programs.
• Experience with quality improvement, research, presentations, or publications.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Knowledge of the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services and the role of spiritual care within whole-person care.
• Strong leadership, communication, coaching, and relationship-building skills.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with interdisciplinary teams and diverse stakeholders.
• Experience using data, quality improvement methodologies, and project management principles.
• Ability to lead in a dynamic healthcare environment and develop creative solutions for diverse communities and staffing models.

Why Mercy?

From day one, Mercy offers outstanding benefits - including medical, dental, and vision coverage, paid time off, tuition support, and matched retirement plans for team members working 32+ hours per pay period.

Join a caring, collaborative team where your voice matters. At Mercy, you'll help shape the future of healthcare through innovation, technology, and compassion. As we grow, you'll grow with us.