The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints appointed its first female chaplain in Canada. In August 2025, Becky Mantynen was called as a service missionary to minister at Grand Valley Institution for Women in Kitchener, Ontario, where she serves alongside chaplains from other faith traditions. She is one of four Latter-day Saint chaplains across Canada.
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Canada Newsroom interviewed Chaplain Mantynen to better understand her responsibilities and experience.
Why did you pursue a career in chaplaincy?
Actually, chaplaincy found me. I had been volunteering in the prison for a few years when I was asked if I would be interested in working in the chaplaincy department. I talked it over with my bishop, and we decided it would be a great opportunity. I have always loved talking to others, and in my patriarchal blessing, I was blessed that I would “speak peace and comfort to the downcast and sorrowing.”
I originally went to school to become a nurse, completing my Bachelor of Science in nursing, and then worked in pediatric intensive care. After a few years of ICU [intensive care unit] nursing, I felt called to a different kind of work, so I completed both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in social work. This has led me on a different path than I originally envisioned for myself. I have been a social worker for many years now, and I have found deep fulfillment walking beside others and sharing in their journeys and life experiences.
How does your faith as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints influence your work as a chaplain? What does it mean to you to serve people of all faiths while representing your own religious tradition?
I believe in the tender mercies of the Lord Jesus Christ and how if we look for His hand in our lives, we will see it. During my years at the prison, I have had women come to meet with me who are not of my faith. They come because they are looking for guidance and direction. Many of these women express feeling adrift, recognizing within themselves a deep sense of spiritual distress.
It is a great responsibility and honour to be invited into their lives to offer compassion and to help them feel love and belonging. It’s important to ask people from other faiths about their traditions and practices that are important for their own spiritual growth. Spirituality transcends all faith traditions and can be a great source of strength.
For me, walking alongside women beyond my faith is a sacred opportunity to help rekindle their hope and rebuild the foundations of faith in their lives. By doing this, I hope to live the commandment to “love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matthew 22:39).
What does this milestone of being the first Canadian Latter-day Saint female chaplain mean to you personally and for other women in the Church?
By stepping into this pioneering position, I hope to extend the influence of covenant-keeping women beyond the ward and stake, taking our “rightful and needful place” in leadership in our communities and institutions (see Russell M. Nelson, “A Plea to My Sisters,” October 2015 general conference). In this role, I strive to “mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that [I] may be in” through the power and authority of God (Mosiah 18:9).
As a chaplain, my calling is to meet people where they are — offering comfort, guidance and spiritual support. That occasionally includes the privilege of performing marriages, a responsibility I hold with deep reverence. While the Church has long supported chaplains in this role while serving in military, hospital and community settings, the ability of a female Latter-day Saint chaplain in Canada to solemnize marriages reflects the growing ways women contribute to spiritual care in public life. Being authorized to perform marriages is a trust I don’t take lightly. It reflects the confidence placed in chaplains to uphold both the laws of the land and the values of our faith. The ability to officiate marriages allows me to support families at one of life’s most joyful crossroads.
What are some meaningful experiences you’ve had as a chaplain?
I started a women’s scripture study group in the prison. All the women have been given a set of scriptures. It has been amazing to see the women using their scriptures, reading aloud their favourite scriptures and participating in our group meetings, sharing their experiences with each other. The group, although new, has become a place for sharing and building up their spiritual capacity in an environment that can often seem bleak. Our group has become a safe place, a place of faith and a place of hope.
My favourite scripture that always comes to my mind when serving in the prison is Romans 8:38: “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38–39).
I can’t fully explain it, but when I enter the prison and sit with the women, the burdens and heaviness they carry seem to fall away — along with their past mistakes and my own human judgment. I feel deeply blessed to see them as they truly are, as children of God.