For Kocher, chaplaincy should gracefully engage questions of difference

The Rev. Craig Kocher is a Chapel Hill, N.C., native, a charismatic minister and a sports fan who wants to become the next chaplain for the University of Richmond.

The university's chaplain search committee approached Kocher, 33, and asked him to consider applying for the position, set to begin in fall 2009. He said he had spoken with advisers, conducted research and decided that Richmond was a special place with potential, both the university and the Chaplaincy.

During the last six years, Kocher (pronounced COKE-er) has served at the Duke University Chapel, most recently as associate dean and director of religious life. Now, he is one of two candidates under consideration for the university's permanent chaplain position, along with the Rev. Linda Morgan-Celement.

As associate dean, Kocher led services for the staff and chapel services, in addition to providing pastoral care and counseling. As director of religious life, Kocher oversaw about 25 groups. Most groups were Protestant, but Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu groups were active as well. Duke also employed a full-time Rabbi and Imam, or Muslim chaplain.

The Rev. Meghan Feldmeyer, Kocher's friend and colleague, described Kocher as a good listener who was wise, naturally measured, funny and charismatic, noting too that he could relate to students while maintaining his ability to lead.

"Craig ... does well moderating groups that naturally have tension," said Feldmeyer, director of worship at Duke Chapel. She said the Richmond community would be lucky to have him because he was a remarkable person.

Sue Wasiolek, Duke's dean of students, agreed. She said Kocher was an advocate and supporter of student life who had been instrumental in supporting those who were going through difficult times. She also said students saw Kocher as someone who identified with and understood them.

"Students see him as someone who ... is non-judgmental and can be truly trusted," she said.

Kocher was less inclined to give a sweeping vision for the university's chaplaincy because he had met the staff just a few days ago. But he said he felt a chaplaincy should be "a place of welcome and comfort for the university community, especially students."

Still unclear is what part Acting Chaplain Kate O'Dwyer Randall will play in that vision, but Kocher said he hoped she stayed with the chaplaincy. Kocher and O'Dwyer Randall recently shared breakfast, and Kocher noted that O'Dwyer Randall offered many gifts and abilities that were invaluable to the university.

Kocher is also familiar with enduring a transition of leadership -- like the one Richmond's chaplaincy is undergoing -- and said that he appreciated the way O'Dwyer Randall and chaplaincy staff members had handled the changes so far.

In an e-mail, President Edward Ayers wrote to the university community on June 29 that O'Dwyer Randall would still be a part of the chaplaincy, though she did not seek the chaplain position. Ayers did not elaborate on the role she would play.

Part of Kocher's vision for the chaplaincy involves assisting students in their job and career searches. Kocher struggled to decide his vocation and said he wanted to help students explore vocations through a faith-based perspective. He said he remembered dealing with a handful of questions: "Who am I?" and "What am I going to do with my life?" among them.

That experience has led him to work with students using "the language of faith, sacred story and calling."

"Wherever you may be on your journey, the Chaplain's Office will be a place of affirmation," Kocher told about 60 members of the university community at a forum on Tuesday.

After being a radio announcer for six years for the Tar Heel Sports Network while in college and divinity school, Kocher was hired into his current positions at Duke. While working on his graduate degrees, Kocher said he faced the question of whether he wanted to be an academic or a chaplain; he chose the latter.

Kocher was born and raised in Chapel Hill, N.C., -- not including three years he spent in New Delhi, India, as a child. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and then Duke Divinity School, where he earned a Master's of Divinity. He is currently finishing a Master's of Theology at Duke and is beginning the writing stages for a Doctorate in Ministry at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Ga.

Kocher is an ordained elder in the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church. If he were hired, Kocher said he would be able to finish his doctorate before the chaplain position would begin next fall, but would probably have to suspend the Master's in Theology until everything at the chaplaincy had settled.

Kocher's wife, the Rev. Abby Kocher, is the community minister for the Duke Chapel. She would look for work in ministries that help connect the church and education to the poor in urban areas if they moved to Richmond, Kocher said.

Junior Buddy Cassidy said he felt comfortable with Kocher, whom he said exhibited a deep spirituality, was charistmatic and a great speaker. Richmond would be a good fit for Kocher, he said, especially because he had experience at similar schools: Davidson College and Duke. He said Kocher seemed to be less interested in creating programs and more interested in friendships.

Cassidy attended a panel of five students who were invited by the President's office to meet with Kocher separate from the forum.

Cassidy said Kocher had an advantage being from the South because he would understand a lot of nuances that are a part of the university, including biases and prejudices sometimes a part of Southern culture.

Kocher is an ally of the GLBTQ community, something he shared at the forum. Along with the LGBT center director at Duke, Kocher held a breakfast in Duke's chapel in April 2009, while a church known for its strong conservative politics was protesting the breakfast on the other side of campus. About 600 people attended the breakfast, Kocher said.

Several students said they were impressed with Kocher's response to the protest, including Richmond senior Juliette Jeanfreau, who said she thought he handled it gracefully.

"We wanted to push past the sense of debate and confrontation," Kocher said. "We didn't want to fan the flames of protest ... but show a gesture that would go beyond words and would reflect what we think is so sacred about university life."

High among Kocher's priorities is ensuring the chaplaincy is a place where the university community could "engage questions of difference with dignity and grace."

"The gift of a chaplaincy is that we need voices and experiences that come from all areas," Kocher said. "In university communities we honor and appreciate difference. We can't be the University of Richmond without the expression of difference."

Stephanie Rice reported from San Diego.

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