‘Be light on your feet,’ says MMA chaplain

CASTINE – The Rev. Bill Friederich was no stranger to the Maine Maritime Academy campus last April when he was appointed as the part-time, volunteer chaplain.

As part of the mission of the Trinitarian Congregational Parish of Castine, where he is the full-time minister, Friederich has been involved in various aspects of campus life during the past two years.

He said he hopes his chaplaincy will help to firmly establish a pastoral presence on campus for students and staff of all faiths.

“A chaplain’s work on a campus needs to be not just ecumenical – dealing with all Christian denominations – but it needs to be interfaith as well,” he said. “In today’s society, a Christian can have a Jew living on one side of him and a Muslim living on the other. Christians need to know how to have a dialogue with people of other faiths.”

He said he hopes keep MMA’s small chapel open as a “sacred space on campus” where students and staff of all faiths can come to pray, meditate, study and discuss their spiritual lives.

Friederich served as a pastor for 11 years in Illinois before moving with his wife, Maggie Williams, to attend Bangor Theological Seminary. After earning a master of divinity degree, he served as the seminary’s director of admissions before accepting a one-year, interim position as chaplain at the University of Maine’s Wilson Center. He became pastor of the Castine church a little more than two years ago.

Friederich is also a professional drummer and said he expects that the arts will be an integral part of his chaplaincy. He hopes to bring a variety of performing artists to the campus, people who, through their art, can inspire people and “open a channel to a higher source.”

“Whether you call that God, Jesus, Buddha or Allah doesn’t matter,” he said. “It helps us find a place where we can see some commonality with one another.”

Life on campus demands that a chaplain be willing to go out and seek students who, in turn, are seeking spiritual answers, he said.

“You have to be light on your feet,” he said. “You have to hang out where the students hang out. You can’t just sit in an office and wait for them to come to you.”

Part of his role, he said, will be to help students make their spiritual life a priority and to be available to help them struggle with the hard, deep questions about God.