Chaplains in Canon Law and contemporary practice.

anon law defines a chaplain as “a priest to whom is entrusted in a stable manner the pastoral care, at least in part, of some community or special group of Christ’s faithful, to be exercised in accordance with universal and particular law” (Canon 564). The law establishes the chaplain as a canonical figure in the person of a priest who is accountable to the diocesan bishop. A deacon cannot be named a chaplain in the canonical sense.