wfn.org | Episcopalians: Episcopal chaplains bring compassion to war

[dmack@episcopalchurch.org]

April 9, 2003

2003-076

Episcopalians: Episcopal chaplains bring compassion to war

by Jan Nunley

(ENS) Two weeks before the first air strikes were launched on 
Baghdad, Bishop George Packard, suffragan in charge of the 
Episcopal Church's chaplaincies, reminded a gathering at the 
Episcopal Church Center that "when America goes to war, the 
Episcopal Church will go to war too"--in the person of 
active-duty and reservist Episcopal chaplains who accompany U.S. 
troops into battle.

Two weeks after war began, Packard was ready to expand on that 
statement.

"I think that when the nation goes to war, the Episcopal Church 
is called to go to compassion," Packard explained in an phone 
interview from his home, where he was catching up on phone calls 
to chaplains deployed overseas and their families stateside. 
"When the Episcopal Church goes to war, we don't gird up with 
weaponry. We gird up with even more of the things our Lord has 
taught us. We have to be very resourceful in how we apply these 
things."

It's Packard's job, and that of his office, to supply resources 
to those who minister "in harm's way," whether the harm comes 
from war, an act of terrorism, or natural disaster. These days 
Packard and the Rev. Gerry Blackburn, director for military 
ministries, are spending long days--and sometimes nights--in 
their offices, on the phone and in the air, at tasks ranging 
from making certain chaplains have a ready supply of freshly 
blessed Episcopal Service Crosses to practical assistance for 
their families.

It's all part of what Packard and Blackburn call their "Pastoral 
Support Mission," a 14-point plan for action in case of war or 
an act of terrorism on American soil. Priorities include 
supporting military and Veterans Administration chaplains, 
coordinating with congregations and dioceses to support military 
personnel and their families, updating resources available on 
the office's website, and distributing a new CD resource for 
congregations and clergy facing crisis situations. (It has now 
been sent to all Episcopal parishes.)

Ready to go

There are "about 160" Episcopal chaplains in the armed forces, 
Blackburn estimated. Of that number, 55 are active duty, 
full-time members of the Army Chaplain Corps, the Naval Chaplain 
Corps (which includes Marine Corps chaplains), and Air Force 
Chaplains Service. The others are Reserve, Guard, and Civil Air 
Patrol chaplains. Currently, seven active-duty chaplains are "in 
theater" in Iraq; of the reservists and guards, three are 
deployed and another three are awaiting orders.

The chaplains and their families are prepared for what lies 
ahead, Blackburn reported. "They've trained with their men and 
women, so they know something of what going into a theater of 
war means," said Blackburn. "I think only one, maybe two of the 
chaplains that are there have actually been in harm's way 
before, so it's new for most all of them. But it seems from our 
conversations with them that they are prepared. 

"And equally, their families are prepared, as best anyone can 
be. We're sensitive to where they are, and we're providing 
pastoral care through listening, through prayer, just being 
supportive in any way we can to the families of the chaplains," 
Blackburn added.

"We are in the midst right now of calling those who are about 
ready to get on transportation to go overseas," Packard said. 
One recently deployed chaplain's wife, with two children at 
home, just moved into a new house, totaled the family van, and 
had to take her mother--who'd also just moved--to the hospital. 
Packard moved into action, locating a local Ford dealership to 
provide her with transportation until the van is repaired.

Symbols of sanity and normalcy

In the field, chaplains provide what the Air Force calls 
"visible reminders of the Holy," whose duty, as the Army puts 
it, is "bringing God closer to the soldier and the soldier 
closer to God." Noncombatants by law, they are not allowed to 
carry weapons or command troops, though trained--and 
armed--chaplain assistants provide security as well as 
liturgical assistance.

Military chaplains of all faiths are required to be sensitive to 
the religious pluralism of the armed forces, providing equally 
for the spiritual needs of the various faith traditions 
represented. (Even the Episcopal Church's Prayer Book for the 
Armed Services includes forms for the Roman Catholic Act of 
Contrition and a Jewish confession for the critically ill.) 
"Chaplains are taught never to proselytize and if they see any 
troops proselytizing, to caution them--doubly so in a Muslim 
country," said Blackburn. 

They also serve as ethical advisors to commanding officers, 
applying the principles of just-war theory and providing updates 
on the spiritual health and morale of troops in the field. 
Episcopal chaplains such as Chaplain Jay Magness, head chaplain 
of the US Navy's Atlantic fleet, have been featured on shows 
such as PBS' Religion and Ethics Newsweekly program, talking 
about the challenges they and their parishioners in uniform will 
face in war.

Packard and Blackburn have already heard from some of the 
chaplains in Iraq by email. "I have just returned from Umm Qasr 
for a few days. I will return north from Kuwait to join the 
forces there through Easter," wrote Army chaplain Jeffrey 
Seiler. "I am very keenly aware of the responsibility that I and 
all chaplains in this theatre have to be the symbols of sanity 
and normalcy in a world that often does not make sense. The 
events here have had a way of stripping away all that is 
unnecessary and bring us face to face with ourselves and God.

"I buried 4 Iraqis killed in the war brought to me by the Brits 
I was with in Umm Qasr. I said Muslim prayers and Christian 
prayers over them after arranging the bodies so they would face 
SW toward Mecca. I gave a Quran in Arabic to an Iraqi man who 
was hired to work in the dining hall in the port facility who 
let me know he did not have one after the battle ther," Seilor 
wrote.

"I rise at 0415 to the sound of the call to prayer from the 
mosque across the street," reported Marine chaplain Jerome 
Hinson, on the staff of a Marine Corps lieutenant general in 
charge of supplying forward troops with fuel, food, water and 
ammunition. "While saying Morning Prayer, I wonder about how God 
hears the prayers I utter in concert with those offered across 
the street. A short while later I walk the 20 minutes or so it 
takes me to get from my quarters to our base. 

"As I arrive, the Commanding General is in our office. He is 
conferring with my supervisory chaplain, a Navy Captain. The 
General wants some passages of scripture to reflect on as he 
prepares to write and call people who have had loved ones hurt," 
Hinson wrote. "One Marine has been wounded, his foot blown off 
when an Iraqi soldier who had surrendered had a change of heart. 
Another Marine had his face crushed in a vehicular accident. Our 
General feels their loss deeply. His Marines have been hurt and 
he hurts for them. His love for them is fierce. You will never 
see this reported in the newsWhat I do is not glamorous, but, 
it is, perhaps, holy."

'Can you separate the doer from the deed?'

Never far from their thoughts, or those of their chaplains, is 
the strong opposition expressed by church leaders worldwide to 
the Iraq war, from the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury to 
parish priests and congregational leaders.

"I think it's a strain right now," Packard observed. "When we 
were talking about just cause and getting ready to go to war, I 
was one of the biggest ralliers around 'let's do as many 
intellectual exercises around this as we can, let's really turn 
this inside out--that's our duty as the baptized to do so.' And 
I asked the chaplains to join me in that and share what they 
would about these matters of just cause for war." The results of 
that sharing are posted on the chaplains' office web site.

Now that the ground war has commenced, Packard thinks "the 
indicator on the dial has moved in a different direction." In 
one of his regular reflections on the web site, he wrote, "I 
worry about those who are fighting for us--not for their 
training or their courage--I worry about what we are saying to 
them. Maybe it's an imponderable but the popular 'support the 
soldier and not the war' phrase used by many comes across as odd 
to someone on the battlefield. Can you separate the doer from 
the deed? After a debate on foreign policy the days of falling 
in behind an administration as a united, loyal people may be 
gone but the result for troops in harm's way is not good."

"I come out on the side of the people that I minister to," 
Packard explained. "And I think our chaplains are feeling that 
strain too. We've had some very pointed responses from overseas 
about their worries about where we stand relative to that. Our 
chaplains are saying something to us back from the field, that 
we don't appreciate any fuzzy thinking about this. We're 
committed to finishing a job under less than perfect 
circumstances. I think getting it done, getting it done quickly, 
treating victims and innocents and for that matter those who 
surrender with compassion, connection with your buddies, and 
making sure that the level of warfare is proportional to the 
threat that we face [are the goals now]."

Peace is the destination

Packard's office sees the ongoing discussion of the justice of 
war--and the pursuit of peace--as part of its charge too, 
sharing that with other ministries at the Church Center. "In our 
office we get lots of emails and messages out there asking how 
to think through a position about the war. I think we have a 
ministry to tell others at 815 what our experiences are with 
helping people to do that," said Packard.

Packard has also been in conversation with leaders of the 
Episcopal Peace Fellowship about a paper on "just peace" to be 
presented to General Convention this summer. "The idea is that 
this is a peace church. We want to keep our eye on the ball 
here--we believe that peace is the destination. The difference 
for me is that there may be instances where coercive force has 
to be employed for the common good, for the protection of the 
vulnerable, as Augustine put it. 

"Being the one superpower does create some new dynamics of 
ethical struggle," Blackburn agreed. "Even Archbishop Williams 
referred to that, that the US is the only country right now 
that's going to have to 'mop up' in certain world situations. I 
guess how we do that is the test for us."

------

--The Rev. Jan Nunley is deputy director of Episcopal News 
Service.